In his lectures, Mr. Empson never repeats authoritative views, rarely quotes others' views, and often speaks his own insights, which are hard to find in ordinary books. For example, he thinks that T.S. Eliot's admiration for Pound exceeds his due evaluation, which is really flattering. He didn't think highly of T.S. Eliot's later poem "Quartet" and thought it was empty. This is quite different from the general American critics' practice of praising poetry to the sky. He also encourages students to have their own feelings and views on poetry, not to follow others' advice, and sometimes even to put forward different views from teachers. From 65438 to 0930, Empson's early masterpiece Seven Ambiguities pushed the semantic analysis in literary criticism advocated by his mentor Richard Matteo Ricci to a new stage, which promoted the rise of the American New Criticism Movement. His early work was regarded as a classic by the new critics and imitated by others. American cutting-edge critic Collins Brooks? Clean up brooks? Then he flaunted "paradox" and "irony". According to this theory, he carefully analyzed the poems of Wordsworth, Keats and Tennyson in an exquisite urn, thus confirming that semantic analysis is not only applicable to metaphysical poets and Shakespeare's works? Just like Empson did? But also for poems that are generally considered easy to read. In addition, John Crowe Lanson of Lanson put forward the theory of "structure and texture". Wimzat？ Willam K. Winsat Jr.? , advocates the theory of "concrete * * * phase". All these statements are aimed at showing the characteristics of poetic language, but they have their own emphases, which were colorful and spectacular in the 1940s, forming the heyday of new criticism. New criticism's detailed analysis of poetic language is basically the same as Empson's. However, his evaluation of the representative figures of new criticism in the United States is generally not very high, and he thinks that they have not made really creative achievements. Among contemporary American critics, Kenneth Burke Kenneth Brooke is the person he admires most. Wimzat and beardsley Monroe beardsley put forward the viewpoint of "fallacy of intention", which completely separated the author's intention from the meaning of the work to emphasize the independence of the text. This view is strongly opposed by Yan Busun. No wonder Camo F Kermode, a contemporary British critic, called Empson an intentionalist. In addition, because the new criticism regards poetry as an independent and self-sufficient entity, he only pays attention to the close reading of the text, ignoring the relationship between the writer's personal experience and social background. Empson's method is quite different. For example, when he talked about Shakespeare, he expounded the historical background of the Elizabethan era, the spiritual vision of the Renaissance or the world image. 4. Favorite work: Huck Belifen by Mark Twain. He especially recommended China students to read Huck Belifen by Mark Twain, but discouraged reading the works of Hawthorne and the so-called elegant Henry James. It can also be seen that his aesthetic standards are different from the popular academic fashion at that time.
Teacher Empson teaches modern English poetry at 1950- 195 1. At that time, only the blond seniors, Li Xiuguo and I took this course. Master Yan? Is this a courtesy title for me and my dharma brother? I am an important modern English poet, so I have to choose two or three poems. He said that his poems are often regarded as obscure, but in fact, once the key implication is understood, it is not unfathomable. This process lasted for a year, from Hardy, Ye Zhi and Eliot to Dylan Marles Thomas, including his contemporaries such as Auden and Bender. The content of the course is very rich, covering the evolution of English poetry from the end of 19 to the 1940s.
Although as early as the age of 24, Mr. Empson has enjoyed a high reputation in the British and American criticism circles from 65438 to 0930, he still holds a modest attitude towards his achievements, and thinks that his literary criticism is too narrow, far less than his favorite British Shakespeare critic A.C. Bradley. He thinks Bradley's Shakespeare's Tragedy is the only book worth reading among the voluminous Shakespeare reviews. He is never confined to one viewpoint, but is willing to introduce others' viewpoints. For example, he once introduced the Illusion and Reality by Christopher Caudwell, a British Marxist critic, to China students. Yan Shi is always accommodating and affable to China students. When students arrive at his home, he always gives them a warm reception. Please sit down for tea and chat. When a classmate was going to write a paper, he went to the library to find relevant books for his classmates and give them guidance. One summer, he went to the United States to give lectures, and when he came back, he brought some new books, which he often generously lent to visiting friends or students before reading them. People who know him can't see the scholar shelf that ordinary university professors often have in him. His attitude towards others is unusually simple and kind. The most commendable thing is that this enthusiasm for others does not seem to be the result of training, but the natural expression of his pure and sincere character. It can be said that his discriminating thinking ability and sincere childlike innocence are wonderfully combined to form his unique personality, which is exactly what everyone who knows him will never forget about Empson in his life.