William Empson (1906-1984 / England)

poet William Empson

Quotations

  • ''What could not possible be there,
    And learn a style from a despair.''
    William Empson (1906-1984), British critic, poet. This Last Pain (l. 35-36). . . Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).
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  • ''her in her cooling planet
    Revere; do not presume to think her wasted.''
    William Empson (1906-1984), British critic, poet. To an Old Lady (l. 1-2). . . New Oxford Book of English Verse, The, 1250-1950. Helen Gardner, ed. (1972) Oxford University Press.
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  • ''Gods cool in turn, by the sun long outlasted.''
    William Empson (1906-1984), British critic, poet. To an Old Lady (l. 4). . . New Oxford Book of English Verse, The, 1250-1950. Helen Gardner, ed. (1972) Oxford University Press.
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  • ''Attending there let us absorb the cultures of nations
    And dissolve into our judgement all their codes.
    Then, being clogged, with a natural hesitation
    (People are continually asking one the way out),
    Let us stand here and admit that we have no road.''
    William Empson (1906-1984), British poet, critic. Homage to the British Museum (l. 8-12). . . Faber Book of Modern Verse, The. Michael Roberts, ed. (4th ed. revised by Peter Porter, 1982) Faber and Faber.
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  • ''Hours before dawn we were woken by the quake.
    My house was on a cliff. The thing could take
    Bookloads off shelves, break bottles in a row.
    Then the long pause and then the bigger shake.
    It seemed the best thing to be up and go.''
    William Empson (1906-1984), British poet, critic. Hours before dawn we were woken by the quake (l. 1-5). . . Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century English Verse, The. Philip Larkin, ed. (1973) Oxford University Press.
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  • ''Liberal hopefulness
    Regards death as a mere border to an improving picture.''
    William Empson (1906-1984), British poet, critic. Ignorance of Death (l. 11-12). . . Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, The. Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair, eds. (2d ed., 1988) W. W. Norton & Company.
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  • ''Buddhists and Christians contrive to agree about death

    Making death their ideal basis for different ideals.
    The Communists however disapprove of death
    Except when practical.''
    William Empson (1906-1984), British critic, poet. Ignorance of Death (l. 3-6). . . Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, The. Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair, eds. (2d ed., 1988) W. W. Norton & Company.
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  • ''My heart pumps yet the poison draught of you.''
    William Empson (1906-1984), British critic, poet. It is the pain, it is the pain, endures (l. 14). . . Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).
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  • ''It is the pain, it is the pain, endures.''
    William Empson (1906-1984), British poet, critic. It is the pain, it is the pain, endures (l. 1). . . Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).
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  • ''Poise of my hands reminded me of yours.''
    William Empson (1906-1984), British poet, critic. It is the pain, it is the pain, endures (l. 3). . . Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollander, general eds. (1973) Oxford University Press (Also published as six paperback vols.: Medieval English Literature, J. B. Trapp, ed.; The Literature of Renaissance England, John Hollander and Frank Kermode, eds.; The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Martin Price, ed.; Romantic Poetry and Prose, Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, eds.; Victorian Prose and Poetry, Lionel Trilling and Harold Bloom, eds.; Modern British Literature, Frank Kermode and John Hollander, eds.).
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Just a Smack at Auden

Waiting for the end, boys, waiting for the end.
What is there to be or do?
What’s become of me or you?
Are we kind or are we true?
Sitting two and two, boys, waiting for the end.

Shall I build a tower, boys, knowing it will rend
Crack upon the hour, boys, waiting for the end?
Shall I pluck a flower, boys, shall I save or spend?

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