Twixt devil and deep sea, man hacks his caves; Birth, death; one, many; what is true, and seems; Earth's vast hot iron,… — William Empson Copy Share Image
It seems unpleasantly refined to put things off till someone knows. — William Empson Copy Share Image
I think many people (like myself) prefer to read poetry mixed with prose; it gives you more to go by; the conventions… — William Empson Copy Share Image
“Villanelle It is the pain, it is the pain endures. Your chemic beauty burned my muscles through. Poise of my hands reminded me of… — William Empson Copy Share Image
Proust has listed a great many reasons why it is impossible to be happy, but, in the course of being happy, one finds it… — William Empson Copy Share Image
“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… — William Empson Copy Share Image
“Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills. It is not the effort nor the failure tires. The waste remains, the waste remains and… — William Empson Copy Share Image
The central function of imaginative literature is to make you realize that other people act on moral convictions different from your own. — William Empson Copy Share Image
Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills. It is not the effort nor the failure tires. The waste remains, the waste remains and… — William Empson Copy Share Image
I'm afraid I take ... this rather clinical view of love: it's saving you from madness. I'm not so enthusiastic as other poets have been. — William Empson Copy Share Image
