Shakespeare tells the same stories over and over in so many guises that it takes a long time before you notice.

quote by Howard Nemerov
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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
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I do insist on making what I hope is sense so there's always a coherent narrative or argument that the reader can follow.

quote by Howard Nemerov
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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
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It may be said that poems are in one way like icebergs: only about a third of their bulk appears above the surface of the page.

quote by Howard Nemerov
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Robert Frost had always said you mustn't think of the last line first, or it's only a fake poem, not a real one. I'm inclined to agree.

quote by Howard Nemerov
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The historian is terribly responsible to what he can discern are the facts of the case, but he's nothing if he doesn't make out a case.

quote by Howard Nemerov
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I think there's one thing which distinguishes our art - we don't consider. We don't think. We write a little verse because it comes to us.

quote by Howard Nemerov
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Obvious enough that generalities work to protect the mind from the great outdoors; is it possible that this was in fact their first purpose?

quote by Howard Nemerov
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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
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