The Collected Poems

by Howard Nemerov

The former Poet Laureate of the United States, Nemerov gives us a lucid and precise twist on the commonplaces of everyday life.

The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in 1978.

"Howard Nemerov is a witty, urbane, thoughtful poet, grounded in the classics, a master of the craft. It is refreshing to read his work. . . . "— Minneapolis Tribune

"The world causes in Nemerov a mingled revulsion and love, and a hopeless hope is the most attractive quality in his poems, which slowly turn obverse to reverse, seeing the permanence of change, the vices of virtue, the evanescence of solidities and the errors of truth."—Helen Vendler, New York Times Book Review

Genres: Poetry

534 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Timons Esaias · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my misspent youth, I had a nodding acquaintance, kinda literally, with Howard Nemerov. I was a student at Washington University and attended some readings and public lectures, and later I lived in the neighborhood he frequented, so we passed on the street. I lived for a while next door to Stanley Elkin, and did carpentry work for both Elkin and William Gass, and Nemerov hung out at their houses.

What I did NOT know at that time was that he'd been a fighter pilot in WWII. (He had washed out of flight training for the US Army, prior to Pearl Harbor. Then went to Canada and qualified for the CRAF, and flew missions in Europe, finally transferring back to the USAAF.)

Anyway, he was someone I was aware of personally, and so I picked up his Collected Poems about as soon as it was in paperback. Many of the poems in this are ones I heard him reading around that time. (I have a particular fondness for "Power to the People" which the reporters kept asking him to recite, because it was short and funny.) I've read in it from time to time over the years, but I have only this year finally gotten around to a cover-to-cover reading.

The early poems are inclined to be opaque or obscure, and perhaps a bit too studied. I'm afraid I have my own leanings that way, so I respected them, without liking more than a line or two, here and there. His interests often match mine. He knows his Classics, knows his Bible, and is willing to write as though the reader ought to know them too. That works for me, but won't for many readers these days. He got clearer and more direct in his later years, which was an improvement. (I should say that the tendency was always there -- there is clarity in the first collection; but it becomes the dominant approach later on.)

The short play about Saul and the Witch of Endor, in verse, ("Endor") and the one about Cain ("Cain") are cases in point. Very 60s, very avant garde, and slightly overwrought. Worth having read, though.

I made special marks in the TOC on 24 of the poems, and I'm usually only finding four or five in a collected works, that I especially like. Three candidates for reading at our next Passage Party will be "The Phoenix" and "Beginner's Guide" and likewise "The Dependencies." I also especially liked "To Lu Chi." The writer's poem "Make Big Money at Home! Write Poems in Spare Time!" is worth the read.

Nemerov impresses me. Even when I'm not grabbed by a piece, I'm still pleased to be reading it. He took the craft seriously, he meant business, it shows on the page. Not a bad guide to follow.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorites starts "In this world are millions and millions of men, and each man, with few exceptions, believes himself to be at the center." I think it's called "Of Angels and Men." I could read it every day and still love it.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

unutterably wonderful. i didn't give it five stars because it required too much of me at the time when i read it. it required me to be at a best just a hairsbreadth out of reach.

[amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

God, do I love Nemerov. I received the Collected Poems as a Christmas gift after I performed "Life Cycle of Common Man" for a POL competition at my high school. I was hooked into Nemerov with "The Lobster" and he's hung around as one of my favorite poets since. There's always a twist, always something unexpected; this poetry is not just lines hung on a page, but mastery in word.
I give four stars because some of the poems in this collection are obnoxiously long cuts of dialogue that I tried and failed to read. God bless those who do and enjoy it.

[Cooch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some excellent poems amongst the many, at least, good poems

One can easily imagine how a selected best poems would be four and a half stars at least. To much of the collection is more verse than serious poetry.

[Dave Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of poems. It's a big book (over 500 pages) but well worth the investment of your time.

[Andrew]

I tried, sorta... Very dense material, definitely deserved more attention than I afforded it. Maybe one day, when there's more time...

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Get familiar with his poetry.

[Tim Genetti]

Not my favorite poet, but a strong minor poet in the annuls