A lot happens by accident in poetry.

Quote by Howard Nemerov

Topics: Howard Nemerov Quotes

I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier.

I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier.

I never abandoned either forms or freedom. I imagine that most of what could be...

I never abandoned either forms or freedom. I imagine that most of what could be...

I like all my children, even the squat and ugly ones.

I like all my children, even the squat and ugly ones.

Language is remarkable, except under the extreme constraints of mathematics and logic, it never can...

Language is remarkable, except under the extreme constraints of mathematics and logic, it never can...

I do insist on making what I hope is sense so there's always a coherent...

I do insist on making what I hope is sense so there's always a coherent...

Mostly the thought and the verse come inseparably. In my poem Poetics, it's as close...

Mostly the thought and the verse come inseparably. In my poem Poetics, it's as close...

I've never read a political poem that's accomplished anything. Poetry makes things happen, but rarely...

I've never read a political poem that's accomplished anything. Poetry makes things happen, but rarely...

Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time.

Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time.

Once in awhile you have a thought, and you rhyme it.

Once in awhile you have a thought, and you rhyme it.

A chronicle is very different from history proper.

A chronicle is very different from history proper.

It may be said that poems are in one way like icebergs: only about a...

It may be said that poems are in one way like icebergs: only about a...

We're not in love with Literature all the time - especially when you have to...

We're not in love with Literature all the time - especially when you have to...

Shakespeare tells the same stories over and over in so many guises that it takes...

Shakespeare tells the same stories over and over in so many guises that it takes...

Obvious enough that generalities work to protect the mind from the great outdoors; is it...

Obvious enough that generalities work to protect the mind from the great outdoors; is it...

When modern writers gave up telling stories, they gave up the greatest thing we had.

When modern writers gave up telling stories, they gave up the greatest thing we had.

A teacher is a person who never says anything once.

A teacher is a person who never says anything once.

The nice thing about the Bible is it doesn't give you too many facts. Two...

The nice thing about the Bible is it doesn't give you too many facts. Two...

I think there's one thing which distinguishes our art - we don't consider. We don't...

I think there's one thing which distinguishes our art - we don't consider. We don't...

Robert Frost had always said you mustn't think of the last line first, or it's...

Robert Frost had always said you mustn't think of the last line first, or it's...

For a Jewish Puritan of the middle class, the novel is serious, the novel is...

For a Jewish Puritan of the middle class, the novel is serious, the novel is...