Poets on Poetry

New York: Basic Books, (1966).

Price: $200.00

Hardcover. First edition. Near fine in else near fine dustwrapper rather stained on the spine. Inscribed by Nemerov to Phyllis Armstrong, his assistant while he served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress: "for Phyllis, affectionately, Howard Nemerov." Armstrong's assistance on this volume is acknowledged by Nemerov in the preface. Armstrong was the Assistant in Poetry at the Library of Congress where she bullied, cajoled, and served the various poets who served as Poetry Consultant (later changed to Poet Laureate) for 24 years. She was appointed by Karl Shapiro in 1946 who said in retrospect that she handled, "one difficult poet after another, for which she deserved the Congressional Medal of Honor." A tall, chain-smoking, Canadian poet, she reminded Randall Jarrell of T.S. Eliot. She was inextricably bound-up with the history of that office. When questioned about his tenure, Howard Nemerov said: "I had no problems. I just did what Phyllis told me to do."

Item #47718

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Item #47718 Poets on Poetry. Howard NEMEROV.

Howard Nemerov
birth name: Howard Nemerov
born: 3/1/1920
died: 7/5/1991

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Biography

American poet, novelist, and critic whose poetry, marked by irony and self-deprecatory wit, is often about nature. In 1978 Nemerov received the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov, which appeared in 1977. Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literaturemore