Seven Types of Ambiguities
February 2009
William Empson (1930/47)
Elliot Perlman (2003)
People collect things; sometimes even things they don't know why they're collecting. Ever think about the things you collect? I collect words. Alright, I collect other stuff too, but most of that is in the garage or the basement, and is stuff I'm slowly trying -for my children's sake- to unladen. But not the words. I collect words that represent, stand in for, concepts. I first became quite conscious of word collection in the early days of my working career when another social worker I was talking with -she was telling a story- told me of how convoluted was a certain situation. I was so struck by the word that I lost the essence of the story as I became aware of what I was doing. I was collecting words. Words like, ambiguity. Originally I collected such words for only one reason: to know. Now I have two reasons for this collection: To know; and as subject matter to essay. I can't say what it was that brought ambiguity to mind recently but I must have crossed it in some reading and was struck by how it describes the situation within my mind as I try to work out a complete thought. So I thought I'd essay ambiguity; I put the word on my list.
Within a couple of weeks of listing this word I was reading through two articles in a subscription journal, one a reminiscence essay, the other a book review of The Letters of Ted Hughes. It was first in the essay, reading of Steven L. Isenberg's memory inadvertently lunching with four literary pillars, that I became aware of William Empson, poet and critic. In the story of his lunch with Empson -a very good story in itself- he made reference to Empson's Sven Types of Ambiguity (1930 and 1947). Ambiguity?! Seven types? Dang! My intent of course would have been to work from a dictionary definition in combination with my own experience. And now I'm learning that William Empson has written a whole book of criticism on seven types of ambiguity! Who needs my notion of ambiguity!
Like all such stories of collections and words themselves, that wasn't the end of it. As I went on to Sudip Bose's review of Christopher Reid's selections and edition of the Hughes' letters, I not only learned of Ted Hughes and infamous stories surrounding him following the tragic death of his wife, Sylvia Plath, but I learned that Hughes had been a contemporary, and subject of William Empson. I am always glad to learn. In this case, I was especially glad to be exposed to the poetry of Hughes as I have recently found poetry insinuating itself into my life, and with no small amount of bewilderment. And that bewilderment further ties me to Empson.
Interestingly, perusal of the local library catalogues did find a copy of Seven Types of Ambiguity (2003), by -Elliot Perlman, an Australian (and New York) lawyer. How can that be? A short trip later and I had Perlman's "Ambiguity", Reid's "Letters", and Hughes' "New Selected Poems". All are a good read. I also obtained something else. In my use of Wikipedia I found a pdf copy of Seven Types of Ambiguity at The Open Archive copy of the second edition, London, 1949. Also an interesting read.
February 2009
William Empson (1930/47)
Elliot Perlman (2003)
People collect things; sometimes even things they don't know why they're collecting. Ever think about the things you collect? I collect words. Alright, I collect other stuff too, but most of that is in the garage or the basement, and is stuff I'm slowly trying -for my children's sake- to unladen. But not the words. I collect words that represent, stand in for, concepts. I first became quite conscious of word collection in the early days of my working career when another social worker I was talking with -she was telling a story- told me of how convoluted was a certain situation. I was so struck by the word that I lost the essence of the story as I became aware of what I was doing. I was collecting words. Words like, ambiguity. Originally I collected such words for only one reason: to know. Now I have two reasons for this collection: To know; and as subject matter to essay. I can't say what it was that brought ambiguity to mind recently but I must have crossed it in some reading and was struck by how it describes the situation within my mind as I try to work out a complete thought. So I thought I'd essay ambiguity; I put the word on my list.
Within a couple of weeks of listing this word I was reading through two articles in a subscription journal, one a reminiscence essay, the other a book review of The Letters of Ted Hughes. It was first in the essay, reading of Steven L. Isenberg's memory inadvertently lunching with four literary pillars, that I became aware of William Empson, poet and critic. In the story of his lunch with Empson -a very good story in itself- he made reference to Empson's Sven Types of Ambiguity (1930 and 1947). Ambiguity?! Seven types? Dang! My intent of course would have been to work from a dictionary definition in combination with my own experience. And now I'm learning that William Empson has written a whole book of criticism on seven types of ambiguity! Who needs my notion of ambiguity!
Like all such stories of collections and words themselves, that wasn't the end of it. As I went on to Sudip Bose's review of Christopher Reid's selections and edition of the Hughes' letters, I not only learned of Ted Hughes and infamous stories surrounding him following the tragic death of his wife, Sylvia Plath, but I learned that Hughes had been a contemporary, and subject of William Empson. I am always glad to learn. In this case, I was especially glad to be exposed to the poetry of Hughes as I have recently found poetry insinuating itself into my life, and with no small amount of bewilderment. And that bewilderment further ties me to Empson.
Interestingly, perusal of the local library catalogues did find a copy of Seven Types of Ambiguity (2003), by -Elliot Perlman, an Australian (and New York) lawyer. How can that be? A short trip later and I had Perlman's "Ambiguity", Reid's "Letters", and Hughes' "New Selected Poems". All are a good read. I also obtained something else. In my use of Wikipedia I found a pdf copy of Seven Types of Ambiguity at The Open Archive copy of the second edition, London, 1949. Also an interesting read.
Yes! How wonderful to find a fellow word-collector. I collect words and phrases, record them on my digital voice recorder or a scrap of paper to use later in a poem.
ReplyDeleteI've heard about those scrap-of-paper collections. My hard-drive is littered (as in litter) with them. Thanks for tanking note. I hope I'm finally on a track to do better at that myself.
ReplyDelete