Empson1949
Seven Types Of Ambiguity
by William Empson
Metadata
- Copyright: 1949
- Publisher: Chatto and Windus, LONDON
- FIRST EDITION 1930
- SECOND EDITION (REVISED AND RE-SET) 1947
- REPRINTED 1949
Frontmatter
Contents
Contents
Preface to the Second Edition
CHAPTER I
The sorts of meaning to be considered; the problems of Pure Sound and of Atmosphere. First-type ambiguities arise when a detail is effective m several ways at once, e.g. by com- parisons with several points of likeness, antitheses with several points of difference (p. 22), * comparative ' adjectives, subdued metaphors, and extra meanings suggested by rhythm. Annex on Dramatic Irony (p. 38).
CHAPTER II
In second-type ambiguities two or more alternative meanings are fully resolved into one. Double grammar in Shakespeare Sonnets. Ambiguities in Chaucer (p. 58), the eighteenth century, T. S. Eliot. Digressions (p. 80) on emendations of Shakespeare and on his form 'The A and B of C.'
CHAPTER III
The condition for third-type ambiguity is that two apparently unconnected meanings are given simultaneously. Puns from Milton, Marvell, Johnson, Pope, Hood. Generalised form (p. in) when there is reference to more than one universe of discourse; allegory, mutual comparison, and pastoral. Ex- amples from Shakespeare, Nash, Pope, Herbert, Gray. Dis- cussion of the criterion for this type.
CHAPTER IV
In the fourth type the alternative meanings combine to make clear a complicated state of mind in the author. Complete poems by Shakespeare and Donne considered. Examples (p. 145) of alternative possible emphases in Donne and Hopkins. Pope on dowagers praised. Tintern Abbey accused of failing to achieve this type.
CHAPTER V
The fifth type is a fortunate confusion, as when the author is discovering his idea in the act of writing (examples from Shelley) or not holding it all in mind at once (p. 163 ; examples from Swinburne). Argument (p. 166) that later metaphysical poets were approaching nineteenth-century technique by this route; examples from Marvell and Vaughan.
CHAPTER VI
In the sixth type what is said is contradictory or irrelevant and the reader is forced to invent interpretations. Examples from f Shakespeare, Fitzgerald, Tennyson, Herbert (p. 183), Pope, Yeats. Discussion of the criterion for this type and its bearing on nineteenth-century technique.
CHAPTER VII
The seventh type is that of full contradiction, marking a divi- sion in the author's mind. Freud invoked. Examples (pp. 198-211) of minor confusions in negation and opposition. Seventh-type ambiguities from Shakespeare, Keats, Crashaw, Hopkins, and Herbert.
CHAPTER VIII
General discussion of the conditions under which ambiguity is valuable and the means of apprehending it. Argument that theoretical understanding of it is needed now more than previ- ously. Not all ambiguities are relevant to criticism ; example from Jonson (p. 242). Discussion of how verbal analysis should be carried out and what it can hope to achieve.
