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

Quote by Howard Nemerov

Topics: Howard Nemerov Quotes

I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier.

I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier.

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 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 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...

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.

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...

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

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

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...

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...

Language cares.

Language cares.

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

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

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...

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 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...

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...

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...