woops

is not like other people
Just been reading Empson doing a Prynne-line forensic examination of the use of a single word - 'sense' -in the Prelude. I really like it, he's no nonsense and quite harsh on the writer, but the depth he goes into is really impressive. I suppose he must have been a big influence on Prynne's essays on Wordsworth, Coleridge and Keats where he breaks down every single word of a poem, but he seems a lot more judgemental than Prynne. Would be terrifying for the poet, I would imagine, to have him write an essay on you!
I think Prynne must have studied practical criticism at Cambridge with Empson and also I.A. Richards who wrote the book, @luka has my copy
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
What book is that you refer to? I've just read this one essay by him that's in my edition of the prelude, definitely want to read more by him
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
Read a bit, not all, of Pounds the ABC of Reading a while back too, and that's also entertaining and totally nuts and extremist. Wordsworth receives a heavy slagging for using too many words and if you haven't learned Latin and Greek and Italian in order to read the classics in their original language you're a lightweight and can just fuck off basically is the overall message iirc.
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
You can't read it without feeling totally thick in comparison to him, something which he clearly is aiming for, but it's quite bracing actually, and funny
 

woops

is not like other people
What book is that you refer to? I've just read this one essay by him that's in my edition of the prelude, definitely want to read more by him
It's called Practical Criticism. Students are shown unsigned writing and asked to respond to it. Then Richards goes to town on their responses with entertaining results
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I wonder if having that attitude towards composing a poem works – I presume there are many poets who agonise over every single word they use but you'd assume that would clog you up creatively, at least on the first draft.
 

version

Well-known member
The idea that this stuff has escaped literature and turned everyone and everything into a text to be deciphered and decoded is a potent one.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Sounds similar to archaeologists rendering the study of any material record as text, see Barrett, Dobles/Robb, usual French philosophy suspects if you can be ersed

Unfortunately, most offers the driest possible writing on subjects which warrant more attentive focus

Digital archaeologists of the future will already have been primed by the past to enact further crimes against English - can you imagine schools of criticism based on ancient brainfart tweets and sm holiday updates? Data crimes
 
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