Person    | Male  Born 27/9/1906  Died 15/4/1984

Sir William Empson

Categories: Poetry

Poet and critic. Born near Goole, Yorkshire. Considered a great English critic, his best-known work is his first publication "Seven Types of Ambiguity" 1930. Married Hetta in 1941 and had two sons, but was probably bisexual and an alcoholic. Spent a lot of his married life away from the London home, in Sheffield where he was chair of English literature at the university. Died at home, Studio House, 1 Hampstead Hill Gardens. (Did you notice how we managed not to mention the beard?)

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sir William Empson

Commemorated ati

Sir William Empson

Unveiled by Sir Williams’ son, Jake Empson. At no 71 Empson lived in the the...

Read More

Sir William Empson & Lady Hetta Empson

We think this was unveiled in Oct 2015.

Read More

Other Subjects

Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley

American writer who was the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Her name can also be given as Phillis Wheatley Peters or Phyllis or Wheatly. Born in West Africa, she was s...

Person, Gender Issues, Poetry, Race Issues, Africa, USA

1 memorial
Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

Author and poet.  Born Marguerite Ann Johnson in St Louis, Missouri, USA. She died, aged 86 years, on 28 May 2014 at her home in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina, USA. Her body was cr...

Person, Gender Issues, Poetry, USA

1 memorial
Canon Richard Watson Dixon

Canon Richard Watson Dixon

Born Islington. Ecclesiastical historian and poet. At Pembroke College, Oxford, he became one of the ‘Birmingham Group’ along with William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. He was considered for Poe...

Person, History, Poetry, Religion

1 memorial
John Milton

John Milton

Poet, essayist, playwright, historian, and diplomat. Born in the house called The Spread Eagle in Bread Street, Cheapside. Left London to study in Cambridge but found all the dull debates in Latin ...

Person, Education, Poetry, Seriously Famous

16 memorials
Robert Browning

Robert Browning

Poet and playwright. Born Camberwell.  His works include ‘Home Thoughts from Abroad’ and ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’. He fell in love with Elizabeth Barrett and married her secretly because of her ...

Person, Poetry, Seriously Famous, Italy

7 memorials