'Nemerov's contribution to our literature--as a gifted writer of fiction and critical prose, but pre-eminently as a poet-- does not seem to me to have received as much celebrity as it deserves. Nemerov's virtues are all in fact unfashionable ones for our time: vivid intelligence, an irreverent sense of humor, a mastery of formal verse, an awareness of mystery' ('Books' 3). Although known primarily as a poet, Howard Nemerov has also distinguished himself as a critic, short story writer, and novelist. With nearly four dozen published works, Howard Nemerov has become one of America's most distinguished men of writing. His subjects range from all parts of the human mind, from war to religion, and death to nature.
Nemerov was born on March 1, 1920, in New York City. Until he moved to Vermont in 1948, New York influenced most of his poems. Nemerov's wealthy and culturally refined parents sent him to Fieldston School.
OpenStreetMap Logo
English: United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into t...
The image of American Poet Laureate Howard Nemerov...At this private school, Nemerov was an impeccable student and a strong athlete. After graduating in 1937, he went to Harvard, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree. At the start of World War II, Nemerov became attracted to the air force. However, like all poets, this attraction gradually grew into terror at the reality of war ('Nemerov' 249). Nemerov first served as a flying officer with the RAF Coastal Command, attacking German ships over the North Sea. Then in 1944, he was transferred to the Eighth United States Army Air Force, based in Lincolnshire. Later he served in a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force attached to the United States Air Force. In 1944, he married an English girl, to whom he's still married. After the war, Nemerov and his wife lived in New York for a year. During this time, his first...