Harold Bloom's seminal work, "The Anxiety of Influence," revolutionizes literary criticism by presenting a radical theory of poetic creation. Bloom argues that poets are not merely inspired by their predecessors but engage in a psychological struggle, an 'anxiety,' to differentiate their unique voice. He posits that new poems emerge from a deliberate misreading or 'misprision' of earlier, influential works, allowing the later poet to carve out an original space. This challenging and intellectually rigorous text delves into the intricate, often agonistic, relationship between poets across generations, offering a Freudian-inflected framework for understanding the revisionary process of literary history.