ABSTRACT
Mr Empson has presented modern poetry is in an even more desperate state than he feared. But with a little luck, after a few bouts of puzzling in a carefree and jovial mood, he ought to be able to say much more about this superlative book of riddles. Mr Empson will have been engaged in some of the most guileful machinations that can be put on foot in poetry. He repeatedly approves, be in haste to decide that the meaning certainly is, or certainly is not, within his grasp - for the poems are built upon the very ambiguities of 'meaning'. Mr Empson has performed his task with an engaging good humour, well aware of the danger that the Notes may turn into an apologetic, and will, in any case, attempt to replace the poem. Mr Empson, the author would say, has done this, and what Mr Empson now writes with it is a matter of extreme interest.
