WHY THE PRINTER’S VERSION WAS BETTER.
WHY THE PRINTER’S VERSION WAS BETTER. Clive James analyzes the two lines that the printer changed and explains that the printer’s version was better because it suggested more: “The names that ports have for the sea are likely to be functional as well as mythical, mistrustful as well as admiring, many-rooted rather than casually appropriate….” The word “ports” is unexpected and unpredictable.
Another way of looking at it is that it is a demonstration of the power of ambiguity, a tribute to William Empson.