ABSTRACT

This volume of commemorative and celebratory essays, first published in 1974, concentrates on William Empson – the critic, the poet and friend. The papers range from the biographical to the academic, but what every one suggests is the impossibility of separating the man from his work and the ‘life’ from the ‘thought’. This book constitutes an important study of Empson, his work and his impact upon people and literary studies of our time.

chapter 1|1 pages

A Toast

chapter 2|11 pages

The Ambiguity of William Empson

chapter 3|8 pages

Extracts from Unpublished Memoirs

chapter 4|13 pages

Mr William Empson in Japan

chapter 5|7 pages

A is B at 8,000 feet

chapter 6|8 pages

Empson Agonistes

chapter 7|3 pages

William Empson

chapter 9|22 pages

An Eighth Type of Ambiguity

chapter 10|11 pages

Semantic Frontiersman

chapter 11|8 pages

All or Nothing: A theme in John Donne

chapter 12|9 pages

Reflections on Johnson's Life of Milton

chapter 13|19 pages

New Signatures in Retrospect

chapter 14|63 pages

Empson's Poetry

chapter 15|5 pages

William Empson

chapter 16|32 pages

An Empson Bibliography