Criticism starts - it has to start - with a real passion for reading. It can come in adolescence, even in your twenties, but you must fall in love with poems.

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 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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

All that a critic, as critic, can give poets is the deadly encouragement that never...

All that a critic, as critic, can give poets is the deadly encouragement that never...

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...

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...

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 gets older, without getting either better or worse and so does literature. But...

The world gets older, without getting either better or worse and so does literature. But...

I take it that a successful therapy is an oxymoron.

I take it that a successful therapy is an oxymoron.