EDUCATIONWELL

Sir William Empson

He was an English literary critic and Poet widely known for his practice of  literary works, a practice fundamental to New Criticism.  Seven Types of Ambiguity, One of the best work, published in 1930.

Born:-  27 September 1906 Yorkshire, England

Died:- 15 April, 1984   London, England 
Nationality :- British

Occupation:- Literary Critic and Poet

Major work:- Seven Types of Ambiguity ( 1930)

Empson was the son of Arthur Reginald Empson of Yorkshire. His mother was Laura, daughter of Richard Mickelthwait, JP, of Ardsley House, Yorkshire. Empson first discovered his great skill and interest in mathematics at his preparatory school. He won an entrance scholarship to Wincester college, where he excelled as a student and received what he later described as "a ripping education". 

I.A Richards , the director of studies in English, recalled the genesis of Empson's first major work, Seven Types of Ambiguity    composed when Empson was not yet 22 and published when he was 24.

He was a significant scholar of Milton, Shakespeare (Essays on Shakespeare) and Elizabethan drama . He published a monograph, Faustus and the Censor, on the subject of censorship and the authoritative version of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus.  He was also an important scholar of the Metaphysical Poets John Donne, Essays on Renaissance Literature and  Andrew Marvell.

https://educationwel.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-tragedy-of-hamlet-prince-of-denmark.html

https://educationwel.blogspot.com/2022/02/john-webster-biography-john-websters.html

https://educationwel.blogspot.com/2022/02/what-is-monetary-policy-monetary-policy.html

Important Facts.

1. He banished from Cambridge 
2. In 1941, he met Geroge Orwell, at that time the Indian Editor of the BBC.
3. According to Jonathan Bate, he was the greatest english literary critics of the  18th to 19th centuries like Johnson and Hazlitt.
4. 1953, Empson was professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College, London and retired as Head of the English Department at the University of Sheffield

Bibliography

1. Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930)
2. Face of the Buddha(1931, first published in 2016)
3. Some Versions of Pastoral(1935)
4. The Structure of Complex Words(1951)
5. Milton’s God(1961)
6. Using Biography(1985)
7. Essays on Shakespeare(1986)
8. Faustus and the Censor(1987)

Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930)

• An ambiguity, in ordinary speech, means something very pronounced, and as a rule witty or deceitful….any verbal nuance, however slight, which gives room for alternative reactions to the same piece of language.
• Ambiguity, use of words that allow  alternative  interpretations. In factual, explanatory prose, ambiguity is considered an error in reasoning or diction; in literary prose or poetry, it often functions to increase the richness and subtlety of language and to imbue it with a complexity that expands the literal meaning of the original statement. William Empson's Seven types of Ambiguity (1930) remains a full and useful treatment of the subject.

https://educationwel.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-tragedy-of-hamlet-prince-of-denmark.html

https://educationwel.blogspot.com/2022/02/john-webster-biography-john-websters.html

https://educationwel.blogspot.com/2022/02/what-is-monetary-policy-monetary-policy.html