The Anxiety of Influence A THEORY OF POETRY SECOND EDITION Harold Bloom New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1997Oxford University Press Oxford New York Athens Aueland Bangkok Bogoet Bombay Buenos Aires Caleusa “Cape Town Dar ex Salaam Delhi Rorence Hong Kong Isanbal Karach Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne Mexico Cy Naiabi Pars Singapore Taipei Toyo Torome and auociated companis in Berlin Wadan Copyright © 1973, 1997 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Publihed by Oxford Universiy Fre, Ine, 408 Madison Ave, New York, New York 10016 (Oxford ina cegitered trademark of Oxford Universi Pres {All gh esered. No part of his publication may be reproduced, Stored ina reriealyptem, or tanamite, in any form or Wy any sReRDK ‘lecironic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, ‘ithout the prior perminion of Oxford Univeraty Pres, Library of Congress Caalogingin-Publiation Data Bloom, Harold ‘The antegy of inflence : a dhory of poeuy / by Harold Bloom, orB-ongsiissie Poet. 1. Tie. Paio3t B55, 1996 Bog imdeso 99988 ‘There were 18 printings of the fit edon ofthis book. Since this page cannot legibly accommodate the acknowledgments, the following age consiutes a extension ofthe copight page Printed in the United Sate of America The lines from the poem “The City Limits” are taken from the vol lume Briefings: Poems Small and Easy by A. R. Ammons, Copyright © 1971 by A. R Ammons, published by W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., New York, 1971 ‘The lines from the poem “Le livre est sur la table” are taken from the volume Some Tyes by John Ashbery, Copyright © 1956 by Yale University Press, and published by Yale University Press, New Haven, 1956. ‘The lines from the poem “Fragment” are taken from the volume Fragment: Poem by John Ashbery, Copyright © 1966 by John Ashbery, and published by Black Sparrow Press, Los Angeles, 1969. ‘The lines from the poem “Soonest Mended,” by John Ashbery, are taken from the volume The Double Dream of Spring, Copyright © 1970 by John Ashbery, and published by E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York, 1970. ‘The passage from the essay "Freud and the Future” is taken from the volume Essays of Three Decades by Thomas Mann, translated by H. T. Lowe-Porter, Copyright © 1947 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., and pub- lished by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1968. ‘The lines from the poetry of Wallace Stevens are taken from the volume The Palm at the End ofthe Mind, edited by Holly Stevens, Copy- right © 1971 by Holly Stevens, and published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1971. ‘The passages from the leters of Wallace Stevens are taken from the volume Lats of Wallace Stevens, edited by Holly Stevens, Copyright © 1966 by Holly Stevens, and published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1966. ‘The lines from the poetry of Theodore Roethke are taken from the volume The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, Copyright © 1966 by Beatrice Roethke, and published by Doubleday and Company, Inc. Garden City, N¥., 1966.For William K. Wimsatt