William Empson (1906-1984) is best known for his first work, Seven Types of Ambiguity: A Study of Its Effects on English Verse (1930). He was an English poet and supported the school of literary criticism known as New Criticism through his many works and his critical process. Empson encouraged a close and detailed reading of works and was well known for his ability to explain meaning in poetic language.
Nonfiction
Autumn 1940
Basic English and Wordsworth (A Radio Talk)
Naturally no one says that keeping within the Basic words all the time would be a good way of writing poetry. The use of Basic with poetry is, in a […]
Kenyon Review Classics
Spring 1997
The Verbal Analysis: From “My Credo: A Symposium of Critics”
from THE KENYON REVIEW, AUTUMN 1950 When I was asked by letter to contribute to the symposium from Peking, my first impulse was to say that I didn’t believe in […]
Nonfiction
Winter 1993
The Ancient Mariner: An Answer to Warren
Edited by John Haffenden EDITOR’S NOTE William Empson first touched on The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in an essay entitled “Marvell’s Garden,” reprinted in Some Versions of Pastoral (London, […]
Nonfiction
Spring 1958
Tom Jones
I had been meaning to write about Tom Jones before, but this essay bears the marks of shock at what I found said about the book by recent literary critics, […]
Nonfiction
Summer 1957
Donne the Space Man
Why then should witless man so far misween That nothing is, but that which he hath secnr What if within the moon’s fair shining sphere, What if in every other […]
Nonfiction
Winter 1956
The Theme of Ulysses
I showed the following radio talk to Mr. Ransom last year, and he kindly said he would like a piece for the Kenyon on the topic, of about twice the […]
Book Reviews
Winter 1954
The Pride of Othello
Flaming Minister by G. R. Elliott. Duke. $4.50. This massive book on Othello follows the text almost line by line, repeating the few theses it has to offer at every […]
Nonfiction
Spring 1953
Falstaff and Mr. Dover Wilson
The theory that Shakespeare made Falstaff appear in his first draft of Henry V, so that our present text of that play is much revised and thereby gravely confused, seems […]
Nonfiction
Winter 1952
Dover Wilson on “Macbeth”
Mr. Dover Wilson’s arguments, in his edition of the play (1947), for an early revision by Shakespeare himself, designed to shorten it for a Court performance, seem to me valuable […]
Nonfiction
Spring 1951
Sense in the Prelude
One does not think of the poetry of Wordsworth, even the parts which expound his philosophy, as depending on a concentrated richness of single words. There are of course “key” […]
Nonfiction
Autumn 1950
Communication
George Herbert and Miss Tuve Sirs, Miss Rosamond Tuve’s article “On Herbert’s Sacrifice” in the Kenyon Review for Winter 1950 makes some good points against the way I wrote about […]
My Credo: A Symposium of Critics
Autumn 1950
IV. The Verbal Analysis
When I was asked by letter to contribute to the symposium from Peking, my first impulse was to say that I didn’t believe in having any Credo; a critic ought […]
Communications
Autumn 1949
Communications
Sirs, The problems of the post here have kept me from getting my Spring Kenyon Review till July, when I write this; I do not want to hide from the […]
Nonfiction
Autumn 1949
Donne and the Rhetorical Tradition
[This Review will publish a series of fresh papers on the poet Donne, running through several numbers, in the belief that he deserves a new evaluation now that the controversial […]
Book Reviews
Spring 1949
The Horrors of “King Lear”
The Great Stage by Robert B. Heilman. Louisiana State University. $3.50 This is a searching and thorough study of the thought in King Lear. I shall deal mainly with points […]
Nonfiction
Autumn 1948
Emotions in Words Again
The question how Sense and Feeling are related in a piece of literature is one that critics need to come back to at intervals; perhaps in the abstract it is […]
The Kenyon Review Credos
The Verbal Analysis
From The Kenyon Review, Autumn 1950, Vol. XII, No. 4 When I was asked by letter to contribute to the symposium from Peking, my first impulse was to say that […]