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.