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William Empson Quotes

Literary critic

William Empson was a British literary critic born on September 27, 1906, and died on April 15, 1984. His work is known for its unique literary analysis and profound philosophical insights.

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All Men Poetry Seems Analysis Art Boys Cold Different Difficult Ends

Famous William Empson Quotes

“Once you break into the godlike unity of the appreciator you find a microcosm of which the theatre is the macrocosm; the mind is complex and ill-connected like an audience, and it is as surprising in the one case as the other that a sort of unity can be produced by a play.”

Mind Unity

Book:Some Versions of Pastoral

Source: Some Versions of Pastoral

“It is because of the wealth of implication which must be carried by sentences in poetry, because they must start from scratch and put the reader in possession of the entire attitude they assume, that the notion of ‘ sincerity ’ is important, and that it is so hard to imitate a style.”

Sincerity Implications

Book:Seven Types of Ambiguity

Source: Seven Types of Ambiguity

“As for the immediate importance of the study of ambiguity, it would be easy enough to take up an alarmist attitude, and say that the English language needs nursing by the analyst very badly indeed. Always rich and dishevelled, it is fast becoming very rich and dishevelled…”

Analysis Alarmist Dishevelled

Book:Seven Types of Ambiguity

Source: Seven Types of Ambiguity

“Thus a poetical word is a thing conceived in itself and includes all its meanings; a prosaic word is flat and useful and might have been used differently.”

Poetry Prosaic

Book:Seven Types of Ambiguity

Source: Seven Types of Ambiguity

“All languages are composed of dead metaphors as the soil of corpses, but English is perhaps uniquely full of metaphors of this sort, which are not dead but sleeping, and, while making a direct statement, colour it with an implied comparison.”

Soil Corpse Dead Metaphor

Book:Seven Types of Ambiguity

Source: Seven Types of Ambiguity

“Life involves maintaining oneself between contradictions that can't be solved by analysis.”

Oneself Analysis Contradiction Maintaining

Book:The Complete Poems

Source: The Complete Poems

“The difficult part of good temper consists in forbearance, and accommodation to the ill-humors of others.”

Difficult Ill Temper Forbearance Accommodations

Author:William Empson

“Twixt devil and deep sea, man hacks his caves; Birth, death; one, many; what is true, and seems; Earth's vast hot iron, cold space's empty waves.”

Men Seems Earth Space Sea Cold Birth Devil Empty Hot Wave Iron Caves Hacks Deep Sea

Book:Collected Poems

Source: Collected Poems

“Shall I make it clear, boys, for all to apprehend, Those that will not hear, boys, waiting for the end, Knowing it is near, boys, trying to pretend, Sitting in cold fear, boys, waiting for the end?”

Trying Ends Waiting Boys Knowing Clear Cold Sitting

Book:The Complete Poems

Source: The Complete Poems

“Buddhists and Christians contrive to agree about death Making death their ideal basis for different ideals. The Communists however disapprove of death Except when practical.”

Different Christian Ideals Bases Agree Practicals Buddhist Communist

Book:Collected Poems

Source: Collected Poems

“Liberal hopefulness Regards death as a mere border to an improving picture.”

Regard Mere Borders Improving Hopefulness

Book:Collected Poems

Source: Collected Poems

“To produce pure proletarian art the artist must be at one with the worker; this is impossible, not for political reasons, but because the artist never is at one with any public.”

Art Reason Political Artist Impossible Produce Pure Workers

Book:Some Versions of Pastoral

Source: Some Versions of Pastoral

“All those large dreams by which men long live well Are magic-lanterned on the smoke of hell.”

Men Wells Long Dream Hell Magic Smoke Live Well

Book:The Complete Poems

Source: The Complete Poems

“The machinations of ambiguity are among the very roots of poetry.”

Art Poetry Roots Ambiguity

Book:Seven Types of Ambiguity

Source: Seven Types of Ambiguity

“I'm afraid I take ... this rather clinical view of love: it's saving you from madness. I'm not so enthusiastic as other poets have been.”

Has Beens Poetry Literature Views Poet Madness Saving Enthusiastic Clinicals

Book:The Complete Poems

Source: The Complete Poems

“I think many people (like myself) prefer to read poetry mixed with prose; it gives you more to go by; the conventions of poetry have been getting far off from normal life, so that to have a prose bridge makes reading poetry seem more natural.”

People Thinking Giving Has Beens Seems Reading Natural Normal Bridges Prose Conventions Normal Life Reading Poetry

Book:The Complete Poems

Source: The Complete Poems

“The heart of standing is that you cannot fly.”

Heart Standing

Author:William Empson

“It seems unpleasantly refined to put things off till someone knows.”

Knows Seems Refined

Book:The Complete Poems

Source: The Complete Poems

“Law makes long spokes of the short stakes of men.”

Men Long Law Spokes Stakes

Author:William Empson

“Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills. It is not the effort nor the failure tires. The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.”

Whole Effort Blood Waste Remains Streams Poison Tire

Author:William Empson

“Proust has listed a great many reasons why it is impossible to be happy, but, in the course of being happy, one finds it difficult to remember them.”

Reason Remember Courses Difficult Impossible Reason Why Great Men Proust

Book:Seven Types of Ambiguity

Source: Seven Types of Ambiguity

“Poetry contains nothing haphazard.”

Haphazard

Author:William Empson

“The central function of imaginative literature is to make you realize that other people act on moral convictions different from your own.”

People Different Literature Realizing Moral Function Conviction Imaginative

Book:The royal beasts and other works

Source: The royal beasts and other works

“Waiting for the end, boys, waiting for the end. What is there to be or do? What's become of me or you? Are we kind or are we true? Sitting two and two, boys, waiting for the end.”

Kind Two Ends Waiting Boys Sitting

Author:William Empson

“This world is good enough for me, if only I can be good enough for it.”

Ifs World I Can Enough This World Be Good Good Enough

Author:William Empson

“Poets, on the face of it, have either got to be easier or to write their own notes; readers have either got to take more trouble over reading or cease to regard notes as pretentious and a sign of bad poetry”

Writing Faces Reading Trouble Poet Reader Easier Regard Notes Cease Pretentious

Book:The Complete Poems

Source: The Complete Poems

About the Author

Born: September 27, 1906
Died: April 15, 1984
Known for: Literary critic
Quotes: 26

Books & Sources

The Complete PoemsRelated source material

Seven Types of AmbiguityRelated source material

Collected PoemsRelated source material

Some Versions of PastoralRelated source material

The royal beasts and other worksRelated source material

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