William Empson (Critical Survey of Poetry)
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William Empson, better known for his criticism than for his poetry, is both famous and notorious for his doctrine of poetic ambiguity. Empson has argued that all good poetry is characterized by ambiguity, by uncertainties and tensions that are sometimes planned, sometimes fortuitous, frequently demanding variant interpretations. As a Cambridge undergraduate, Empson worked with I. A. Richards, whose pioneering “scientific” approach to literature, Principles of Literary Criticism (1924), inspired his protégé to judge poetry by its success in...
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See Also:
Argufying (Literary Annual Reviews)Aubade (Poetry)Legal Fiction (Poetry)Seven Types of Ambiguity (Nonfiction)English and American Poetry in the Twentieth Century (Topical Overview--Poetry)Explicating Poetry (Topical Overview--Poetry)
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