What we call a poem is mostly what is not there on the page. The strength of any poem is the poems that it has managed to exclude.

Quote by Harold Bloom

Topics: Harold Bloom Quotes

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 is supposed to be the very essence of Judaism - which is the notion...

What is supposed to be the very essence of Judaism - which is the notion...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Shakespeare is universal.

Shakespeare is universal.

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...

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...

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...

Shakespeare will not make us better, and he will not make us worse, but he...

Shakespeare will not make us better, and he will not make us worse, but he...

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...