The Art of Reading Poetry

A paperback original, Bloom's stand–alone introduction to The Best Poems of the English Language.

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. For the first time Bloom gives his readers an elegant guide to reading poetry––a master critic's distillation of a lifetime of ...

A paperback original, Bloom's stand–alone introduction to The Best Poems of the English Language.

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. For the first time Bloom gives his readers an elegant guide to reading poetry––a master critic's distillation of a lifetime of teaching and criticism. He tackles such subjects as poetic voice, the nature of metaphor and allusion, and the nature of poetic value itself. Bloom writes "the work of great poetry is to aid us to become free artists of ourselves." This essay is an invaluable guide to poetry.

This edition will also include a recommended reading list of poems.

Harold Bloom is Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University. He has published more than thirty books, has been the editor of a myriad of others, and has received numerous awards and honorary degrees, including the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Gold Medal for Belles Lettres and Criticism. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut, and New York City.