I am not at all clear what free verse is anymore. That's one of the things you learn not to know.

Quote by Howard Nemerov

Topics: Howard Nemerov Quotes

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...

Occasionally a student writer comes up with something really beautiful and moving, and you won't...

Occasionally a student writer comes up with something really beautiful and moving, and you won't...

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...

The historian is terribly responsible to what he can discern are the facts of the...

The historian is terribly responsible to what he can discern are the facts of the...

When you write it doesn't occur to you that somebody could think different from what...

When you write it doesn't occur to you that somebody could think different from what...

I liked the kid who wrote me that he had to do a term paper...

I liked the kid who wrote me that he had to do a term paper...

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...

A teacher is a person who never says anything once.

A teacher is a person who never says anything once.

I've thought of the last line of some poems for years and tried them out,...

I've thought of the last line of some poems for years and tried them out,...

When I was starting to write, the great influence was T.S. Eliot and after that...

When I was starting to write, the great influence was T.S. Eliot and after that...

I sometimes talk about the making of a poem within the poem.

I sometimes talk about the making of a poem within the poem.

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...

A lot happens by accident in poetry.

A lot happens by accident in poetry.

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

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

I think there was a revolution in poetry, associated chiefly with Eliot and Pound; but...

I think there was a revolution in poetry, associated chiefly with Eliot and Pound; but...

A chronicle is very different from history proper.

A chronicle is very different from history proper.

When Robert Frost was alive, I was known as the other new England poet, which...

When Robert Frost was alive, I was known as the other new England poet, which...

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...

Nothing in the universe can travel at the speed of light, they say, forgetful of...

Nothing in the universe can travel at the speed of light, they say, forgetful of...

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...