Tag Archives: harold bloom

Hemingway: The Almost-Finding of the Truth and the Spirit

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Kestrel Slocombe

I’ve just finished reading Harold Bloom’s excellent How to Read and Why–a critical exploration of some of the great Western literature, wherein Bloom (a truly expansive, elegant, clear-seeing thinker) shares with the reader his own experience of how and why … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Intellectual Life, Literature, Nature, Reading | Tagged books, harold bloom, Hemingway, literature, reading | Leave a comment

Perhaps the Greatest Anonymous Poem in English: “Tom O’Bedlam”

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Kestrel Slocombe

This is an anonymous lyric, discovered in a commonplace book of about 1620. Following the poem are some notes by critic Harold Bloom. Poem and notes are copied from his excellent book How To Read and Why. Tom O’Bedlam From the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Intellectual Life, Literature | Tagged 1600s, Hamlet, harold bloom, literary criticism, literature, poetry, reading, Shakespeare | 1 Comment

My Great Weakness

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Kestrel Slocombe

Once in a while, I give in: I buy books. When I do, I limit myself with the following parameters: the book must be either 1) extremely unusual; 2) so long that if I got it from the library I … Continue reading →