The Art of Reading Poetry

Harold Bloom (View Bio)
Paperback: HarperCollins, 2005.

(amazon)

A notable feature of Harold Bloom’s poetry anthology The Best Poems English Language is his lengthy introductory essay, here reprinted as a separate book. Bloom gives us his critical reflections on more than a half century devoted to reading, teaching, and writing about great verse, the literary achievements he loves most, and conveys his passionate concern for how a poem should be interpreted and appreciated. He illuminates such subjects as poetic voice, the nature of metaphor and allusion, and the nature of poetic value itself.  Blooms writes “the work of great poetry is to aid us to become free artists of ourselves.”  His essay on “The Art of Reading Poetry” is a valuable guide.