William Empson

27 September 1906 - 15 April 1984

WE 's Times obituary called him one of the most distinguished and widely influential English poets, critic[s] and university teachers of this century.

“The Times Digital Archive 1785-2007”. Thompson Gale: The Times Digital Archive.

(16 April 1984): 18

Though his output was relatively small (and a good deal of his prose writing uncollected during his lifetime), his difficult poetry (fifty-six poems in print at the time of his death) and revolutionary criticism made an instant impact which continues to reverberate.

“The Times Digital Archive 1785-2007”. Thompson Gale: The Times Digital Archive.

(16 April 1984): 18

Milestones

27 September 1906

WE , poet and critic, was born at Yokefleet Hall, Howden, near Goole in Yorkshire, the youngest in a family of five children.

Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

November 1930

WE published Seven Types of Ambiguity, which came to be regarded as the first literary critical monument of the New Critical school.

Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Drabble, Margaret, and Jenny Stringer, editors. The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford University Press, 1987.

180

Parker, Peter, editor. A Reader’s Guide to Twentieth-Century Writers. Oxford University Press, 1996.

15 April 1984

Sir WE (knighted in 1979), poet and critic, died at his home in London of cirrhosis of the liver.

Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Biography

Birth and Background

27 September 1906

WE , poet and critic, was born at Yokefleet Hall, Howden, near Goole in Yorkshire, the youngest in a family of five children.

Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.