This book uses the line "Riding three days and nights he came upon the place, but decided it could not be come upon" in its odd poetic epilogue, which is titled "Reflections upon the Path." Its "interchapter" asserts that William Empson and George Wilson Knight are the "best critics of our time" and claims that "every deep reader is an Idiot Questioner." This book's first section discusses a figure that may disguise itself as the Sphinx in its efforts to "block the way," called the Covering Cherub, and it suggests John Milton's Satan is an allegory for the modern poet at his strongest, while Adam represents the constricted "ephebe." It discusses the Lucretius-derived idea of poetic misprisio
This book uses the line "Riding three days and nights he came upon the place, but decided it could not be come upon" in its odd poetic epilogue, which is titled "Reflections upon the Path." Its "interchapter" asserts that William Empson and George Wilson Knight are the "best critics of our time" and claims that "every deep reader is an Idiot Questioner." This book's first section discusses a figure that may disguise itself as the Sphinx in its efforts to "block the way," called the Covering Cherub, and it suggests John Milton's Satan is an allegory for the modern poet at his strongest, while Adam represents the constricted "ephebe." It discusses the Lucretius-derived idea of poetic misprision, or misreading, in the section titled "Clinamen," which is one of its six "revisionary ratios." For 10 points, name this work of literary criticism that discusses how poets struggle with their relationships to their precursors, written by Harold Bloom.