Douglas Clark asserts in what seen to be his characteristically uncluttered
way that William Empson 'only wrote one poem - "Missing Dates" '. Not so:
look at 'This Last Pain', Let it Go', 'Homage to the British Museum',
'Ignorance of Death', The Teasers', 'Aubade' and 'Success'.
Empson showed himself aware of the problem of notes in the earlier edition
of his COLLECTED, pointing out that general knowledge was no longer what it
claimed to be and that there was no point in making things more difficult by
not supplying useful bits of information.
As to John Haffenden's new edition, it's a work of scholarship and hardly to
be derided for being thorough - at least, not without reading it.
Best wishes
Sean O'Brien
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