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

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...

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 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.

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 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...

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

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

It may be said that poems are in one way like icebergs: only about a...

It may be said that poems are in one way like icebergs: only about a...

A teacher is a person who never says anything once.

A teacher is a person who never says anything once.

A lot happens by accident in poetry.

A lot happens by accident in poetry.

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...

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 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...

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

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

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.

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 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...

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...

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...