William Empson

William Empson
Empson in the 1930s
Born	(1906-09-27)27 September 1906 Yokefleet Hall, Yorkshire, England
Died	15 April 1984(1984-04-15) (aged 77) London, England
Occupation(s)	Literary critic and poet
Notable work	Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930)
Style	New Criticism
Spouse	Hetta Empson

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^[1] 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".