Harold Bloom: - The Anxiety Of Influence. A Theo...

The poet "completes" the precursor’s work, suggesting the original didn't go far enough.

Total originality is a myth; all poems are "inter-poems" written in response to others.

Eliot’s insistence on "impersonality" was a defensive reaction (Kenosis) against the Romantic focus on the self. Harold Bloom - The Anxiety of Influence. A Theo...

Accessing a power or "daimon" that supposedly predates the precursor, bypassing them entirely.

"Strong" poets successfully misread their predecessors; "weak" poets merely imitate them. The poet "completes" the precursor’s work, suggesting the

Bloom argues that "great" writing is born from a writer's fear that they have nothing original to say. This creates a "Freudian" struggle between the (the established master) and the Ephebe (the new poet).

Influence is not a gift; it is a burden that threatens a writer's creative identity. 🛠️ The Six Revisionary Ratios Accessing a power or "daimon" that supposedly predates

Bloom outlines six specific ways (or "ratios") that a new poet twists the work of a predecessor to make it their own: