Publisher's Synopsis
Passionate, controversial, illuminating, and - in Empson's own words - 'usually funny or rude', this collection includes all his best short pieces on Shakespeare, a sally on George Herbert, a defence of Coleridge, and in addition the text of Empson's extraordinary Inaugural Lecture as Professor of English Literature at Sheffield University. Also included is Empson's story of staging his modern masque, The Birth of Steel, for Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Sheffield University in 1954. Humane, resouceful, judicious, William Empson exemplified in his life and work the 'world-mindeness' he believed all readers of literature should strive to attain.
