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

Quote by Howard Nemerov

Topics: Howard Nemerov Quotes

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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

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

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

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

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...

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...

A teacher is a person who never says anything once.

A teacher is a person who never says anything once.

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 am not at all clear what free verse is anymore. That's one of the...

I am not at all clear what free verse is anymore. That's one of the...

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...

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...

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.

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...

In the history of mankind, fanaticism has caused more harm than vice

In the history of mankind, fanaticism has caused more harm than vice

As to what happened next, it is possible to maintain that the hand of heaven...

As to what happened next, it is possible to maintain that the hand of heaven...

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history