Mostly the thought and the verse come inseparably. In my poem Poetics, it's as close as I come to telling how I do it.

Quote by Howard Nemerov

Topics: Howard Nemerov Quotes

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...

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.

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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 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...

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...

A lot happens by accident in poetry.

A lot happens by accident in poetry.

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...

A chronicle is very different from history proper.

A chronicle is very different from history proper.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...