A movement of self-discipline where the poet diminishes both themselves and the precursor to reach a lonely state of "solitude."
The more history progresses, the harder it becomes for new writers to be "great." 🔍 Examples in Literature Harold Bloom - The Anxiety of Influence. A Theo...
The poet "completes" the precursor’s work, suggesting the original didn't go far enough. A movement of self-discipline where the poet diminishes
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). "Strong" poets successfully misread their predecessors
"Strong" poets successfully misread their predecessors; "weak" poets merely imitate them.
Accessing a power or "daimon" that supposedly predates the precursor, bypassing them entirely.
Total originality is a myth; all poems are "inter-poems" written in response to others.