"No poem, not even Shakespeare or Milton or Chaucer, is ever strong enough to totally exclude every crucial precursor text or poem"
- Harold Bloom
About this Quote
This quote by Harold Bloom talks to the concept that no poem, no matter how fantastic, is ever strong enough to stand alone. Even the works of the best poets, such as Shakespeare, Milton, and Chaucer, are built on the works of their predecessors. Bloom is suggesting that all poems, no matter how great, are indebted to the works that came prior to them. He is stressing the importance of recognizing the influence of past deal with the present. Flower is likewise suggesting that no poem is ever genuinely original, as it is always built on the works of those who came previously. He is stressing the importance of recognizing the significance of the past in today. By doing so, we can much better value the works of the terrific poets and the influence they have actually had on our culture.
This quote is written / told by Harold Bloom between July 11, 1930 and October 14, 2019. He was a famous Critic from USA.
The author also have 26 other quotes.
"Of the individual poems, some are more lyric and some are more descriptive or narrative. Each poem is fixed in a moment. All those moments written or read together take on the movement and architecture of a narrative"
"The heart of the matter seems to me to be the direct interaction between one's making a poem in English and a poem in the language that one understands and values. I don't see how you can do it otherwise"
"The point of an experiment is not to arrive at a predetermined end point, to prove or disprove anything, but to deliver a poem that reveals much about the process taken"
"Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them"
"The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom... in a clarification of life - not necessarily a great clarification, such as sects and cults are founded on, but in a momentary stay against confusion"
