Quotes by Howard Nemerov

Howard Nemerov (1920–1991) was a distinguished American poet, novelist, and critic, celebrated for his witty, ironic, and philosophically rich poetry. Born into a cultured New York family, he graduated from Harvard in 1941 and served as a WWII pilot before launching a prolific literary career with The Image and the Law (1947). A master of formalist verse, he taught at several universities, notably Washington University in St. Louis, and twice held the U.S. Poet Laureate title (1963–1964, 1988–1990). His acclaimed works, including The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov (1977), earned him the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and Bollingen Prize. Influenced by his artistic upbringing—his sister was photographer Diane Arbus—Nemerov’s legacy endures through his insightful explorations of nature and humanity, cemented by the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award after his death from cancer in 1991.