I've thought of the last line of some poems for years and tried them out, It wouldn't work because the last line was much too beautiful for the poem.

Quote by Howard Nemerov

Topics: Howard Nemerov Quotes

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...

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...

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

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

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...

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...

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

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

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 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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier.

I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier.

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.

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...

The spirit world doesn't admit to communicating with me, so it's fairly even.

The spirit world doesn't admit to communicating with me, so it's fairly even.

A chronicle is very different from history proper.

A chronicle is very different from history proper.

The Establishment center... has led us into the stupidest and cruelest war in all history....

The Establishment center... has led us into the stupidest and cruelest war in all history....

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

Assassination has never changed the history of the world

Assassination has never changed the history of the world