It may be said that poems are in one way like icebergs: only about a third of their bulk appears above the surface of the page.

Quote by Howard Nemerov

Topics: Howard Nemerov Quotes

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...

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...

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

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

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...

A chronicle is very different from history proper.

A chronicle is very different from history proper.

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...

I have a plot, but not much happens.

I have a plot, but not much happens.

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...

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

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

The secrets of success are a good wife and a steady job. My wife told...

The secrets of success are a good wife and a steady job. My wife told...

Language cares.

Language cares.

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...

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...

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...

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...

History is one of those marvelous and necessary illusions we have to deal with. It's...

History is one of those marvelous and necessary illusions we have to deal with. It's...

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...

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...

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...

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...