The Buddha is profoundly wise.

And the ambiguity that Empson
Claims to see in the Buddha
Is actually best understood
As the ambiguity the Buddha sees in him.

I was much impressed with the swollen purple lips and felt certain he had been up all night contemplating the Crucifixion or some other holy torture.

Said Father David Tracy.

William Empson: You could do that with pretty much any poetry, couldn't you?

I.A. Richards:  You had better go off and do it then, hadn't you?

Milton was of the Devil's party, but he didn't know it.

                     - William Blake


On purely literary grounds, Milton's Satan is far more successful than Milton's God. And yet, pace Blake, Empson, Bloom etc... this is not the key to understanding the specifically religious meaning of Paradise Lost.

                         - Fr. David Tracy