[Milton-L] Clarity, was new critics and empson- a few notes

[Carrol Cox]

Clarity is itself not a very clear concept

1. Bring me a pound of ten-penny nails.
2. Bring me a painting I like.

(This example appears somewhere in one of Pound's early essays.)

Both sentences would be equally "clear" on the basis of any objective
test of clarity (syntax & vocabulary). But the second is wholly opaque
without either a close acquaintance with the speaker/writer or an
accompanying (and probably not too "clear") expostion of what the
speaker "likes" in painting.

Carrol