All that a critic, as critic, can give poets is the deadly encouragement that never ceases to remind them of how heavy their inheritance is.

Quote by Harold Bloom

Topics: Harold Bloom Quotes

In fact, it is Shakespeare who gives us the map of the mind. It is...

In fact, it is Shakespeare who gives us the map of the mind. It is...

I have never believed that the critic is the rival of the poet, but I...

I have never believed that the critic is the rival of the poet, but I...

I think Freud is about contamination, but I think that is something he learned from...

I think Freud is about contamination, but I think that is something he learned from...

No poem, not even Shakespeare or Milton or Chaucer, is ever strong enough to totally...

No poem, not even Shakespeare or Milton or Chaucer, is ever strong enough to totally...

Criticism in the universities, I'll have to admit, has entered a phase where I am...

Criticism in the universities, I'll have to admit, has entered a phase where I am...

I take it that a successful therapy is an oxymoron.

I take it that a successful therapy is an oxymoron.

If they wish to alleviate the sufferings of the exploited classes, let them live up...

If they wish to alleviate the sufferings of the exploited classes, let them live up...

What matters in literature in the end is surely the idiosyncratic, the individual, the flavor...

What matters in literature in the end is surely the idiosyncratic, the individual, the flavor...

I don't believe in myths of decline or myths of progress, even as regards the...

I don't believe in myths of decline or myths of progress, even as regards the...

If I were to sum up the negative reactions to my work, I think there...

If I were to sum up the negative reactions to my work, I think there...

But in the end, in the end one is alone. We are all of us...

But in the end, in the end one is alone. We are all of us...

Indeed the three prophecies about the death of individual art are, in their different ways,...

Indeed the three prophecies about the death of individual art are, in their different ways,...

Shakespeare is the true multicultural author. He exists in all languages. He is put on...

Shakespeare is the true multicultural author. He exists in all languages. He is put on...

The world does not get to be a better or a worse place; it just...

The world does not get to be a better or a worse place; it just...

In the finest critics one hears the full cry of the human. They tell one...

In the finest critics one hears the full cry of the human. They tell one...

What I think I have in common with the school of deconstruction is the mode...

What I think I have in common with the school of deconstruction is the mode...

We read deeply for varied reasons, most of them familiar: that we cannot know enough...

We read deeply for varied reasons, most of them familiar: that we cannot know enough...

What we call a poem is mostly what is not there on the page. The...

What we call a poem is mostly what is not there on the page. The...

I would say that there is no future for literary studies as such in the...

I would say that there is no future for literary studies as such in the...

The second, and I think this is the much more overt and I think it...

The second, and I think this is the much more overt and I think it...