William Empson
1906
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1984
photo credits: Wikimedia Commons
country of citizenship: United Kingdom
languages spoken, written or signed: English
educated at: Winchester College, Magdalene College
occupation: literary critic, poet, writer
award received: Fellow of the British Academy, Knight Bachelor
Sir William Empson (27 September 1906 – 15 April 1984) was an English literary critic and poet, widely influential for his practice of closely reading literary works, a practice fundamental to New Criticism. His best-known work is his first, Seven Types of Ambiguity, published in 1930. Jonathan Bate has written that the three greatest English literary critics of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries are Johnson, Hazlitt and Empson, "not least because they are the funniest". Source: Wikipedia (en)
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