Poetic Ambiguity

To delectify the poet's craft,
Empson recommends a schmear
Of ambiguiosity
On every line, in every ear.

He sends a fleet of tricksy blimps
Far into Arcadia
To scrutinize it deathly dear,
To pulverize its crania.

So--like Newton, stooped by Blake--
With compass splayed to measure strophes,
We find the lex-geometer
Strained to pincer golden tropes.

He spearheads hunts of jabberwocks
And snipes and snarks forever-a-day;
"Scan Shakespeare through a Fresnel lens,
On Roman lays a prism lay."

Double syntax--triple if sporty--
Indulge in single phase digressions,
Pure Sound be goosed, and Meaning punted,
Only analysts lead these lessons.

But then contort and rearrange
The words, and search for odd,
Obscure, or daffy explications,
Reduce the lyrist to a clod.

This sort of bend-and-bust dissection
Gives some kids a queasy feeling,
Left one student disenchanted:
To him all poems are unappealing.

The critic's somersaulty rapes
Do smack of sham preoccupation,
Wrought to justify his wage
Or inflate his reputation.