Seven Types of Ambiguity, 3rd ed.
by William Empson

W. W. Norton (New York): June 1966 (1947). Trade paperback: xvi, 256 pages. ISBN-10: 0-8112-0037-X Suggested retail price: $12.95 (US) Tag: Literary Criticism Tactical strength: [6/10]

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Empson proposes the hypothesis that beauty in literature follows in direct proportion to the ambiguity inherent in language used -- that the multiplicity of meanings that exist, especially in poetry, creates artistic beauty. He goes on to identify seven types of ambiguity from the least ambiguous -- double meanings -- to that which has directly contradictory meanings.