Out of Context: An Analysis of the Interplay between Ambiguity and Context in English-Language Modernist Poetry

This thesis explores the role of ambiguity—defined as any utterance or verbal nuance which allows alternative interpretations of the same piece of language—as a literary device in English-language modernist poetry. For most of western history, scholars, philosophers, and literary critics considered instances of ambiguity a defect of language that should be avoided and resolved into a single meaning. A significant development occurred in 1930 with the publication of William Empson’s treatise, Seven Types of Ambiguity, which instead championed the interpretive potential of ambiguity in literature. This thesis builds on Empson’s analysis of ambiguity by developing a more complete catalogue of literary ambiguities that incorporates insights from the fields of semantics and pragmatics. This thesis then analyzes modernist poems to reveal through close reading how ambiguity can lead to multiple valid interpretations of a poem and even lie at the crux of a poem’s meaning. That analysis...Show moreThis thesis explores the role of ambiguity—defined as any utterance or verbal nuance which allows alternative interpretations of the same piece of language—as a literary device in English-language modernist poetry. For most of western history, scholars, philosophers, and literary critics considered instances of ambiguity a defect of language that should be avoided and resolved into a single meaning. A significant development occurred in 1930 with the publication of William Empson’s treatise, Seven Types of Ambiguity, which instead championed the interpretive potential of ambiguity in literature. This thesis builds on Empson’s analysis of ambiguity by developing a more complete catalogue of literary ambiguities that incorporates insights from the fields of semantics and pragmatics. This thesis then analyzes modernist poems to reveal through close reading how ambiguity can lead to multiple valid interpretations of a poem and even lie at the crux of a poem’s meaning. That analysis focuses on the relationship between ambiguity and context, showing that the internal context of a poem, the context around a poem’s creation, and the reader’s personal context—their unique experiences and perspectives—contribute to imbuing ambiguity with literary meaning.Show less

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Out of Context: An Analysis of the Interplay between Ambiguity and Context in English-Language Modernist Poetry