A Critical Introduction to the Poetry of Howard Nemerov. William Ward Mills Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1972 A Critical Introduction to the Poetry of Howard Nemerov. William Ward Mills Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Mills, William Ward, "A Critical Introduction to the Poetry of Howard Nemerov." (1972). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 2352. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/2352 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This dissertation was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. 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University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 A Xerox Education Company il .’I 73-13,676 MILLS, William Ward, 1935- A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE POETRY OF HOWARD NEMEROV. i The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Ph.D., 1972 Language and Literature, modem University Microfilms, A XEROX Company , Ann Arbor, Michigan A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE POETRY OF HOWARD NEMEROV A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by William Ward Mills B.A., Louisiana State University, 1959 M.A., Louisiana State University, 1961 December 1972 PLEASE NOTE: Some pages may have indistinct print. Filmed as received. University Microfilms, A X ero x Education Company ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The writer wishes to express his sincere appreciation to Dr. Thomas L. Watson whose guidance made the completion of this dissertation possible. The writer especially remembers the sessions over martinis or coffee whereupon the nuances of Nemerov's poetry became clearer. Appreciation is also extended to Dr. Lewis P. Simpson, Dr. John H. Wildman, Dr. Jack G. Gilbert, and Dr. Lawrence A. Saesk for their many helpful suggestions. I owe an obvious debt of gratitude to Howard Nemerov for the poetry and would like to thank him for permission to use this poetry. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................ ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................iii ABSTRACT................................................... iv INTRODUCTION .......................................... 1 CHAPTER I - "Because the mind's eye lit the sun" . 4 II - "Running and standing still at once is the whole t r u t h " ............................ 34 III - Language, Mirrors and the A r t ............... 63 IV - Nemerov as Nature P o e t ..................... 94 V - The Urban Landscape........................ 117 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................... 140 VITA...................................................... 142 ABSTRACT Howard Nemerov's art is a cultivated, sophisticated achievement. The poetry is especially responsive to the self-reflexive processes of the mind. He has been pre occupied with questions that have likewise preoccupied modern philosophers: the relation between mind and matter, the universe as unity or diversity, and the source of the beautiful. Nemerov's most characteristic way of looking at the world is similar to that of modern phenomenologists. Cen tral poems like "The Blue Swallows" affirm the kind of knowledge that overcomes the Cartesian split between self and object, human knowledge that can still affirm the beauty of the world. Such poems counter the fragmented knowledge of "scientism," the kind of knowledge that assumes physical science is the system of objective mirror images of brute reality. The poet's image of the world, symbolized often by moving water, reflects his vision of the constant flux of reality. Whitehead's view of the world as organic process is suggestive of the Nemerovian vision. The "isolated" detail or action is revealed to be a part of the vast unity. Through the poet's intuitive grasp of a very small part of this unity, he is able to affirm some kind of overall unity. iv Themes of reality in flux and time pervade the fifteen-poem sequence "Runes," which is remarkable among recent poetry for its intricacy and design. One of the predominant metaphors that Nemerov uses to convey a reality of flux and rhythm is the mirror. Of the many mirror images that he uses, the most profound is the reflecting surface of a pool of water, thus a mirror which is itself in a state of change. The poetry seems to divide itself between contempla tive poetry, which often springs from Nemerov's encounter with nature, and satiric poetry that finds its nourishment in disparities and paradoxes that reveal themselves in the urban scene, though there is no rigid demarcation. The contemplative poetry dramatizes Nemerov's assertion, "I not so much look at nature as I listen to what it says." Very often what nature says is that the anagoge is always death. The urban landscape presents the poet with disparities resulting often from a tyranny of the past on the present. These disparities are manifested in the way they compel habitual ways of looking at the world. Further, as Nemerov searches the modern terrain he insists that "bad jokes, even terrible jokes" emerge from the nature of things and the nature of the "Great Society." Through this satiric voice he clarifies a liberal, human vision of man and his city-societies. INTRODUCTION In a recent volume of essays and bibliography devoted to Howard Nemerov, the editor Bowie Duncan observes in the introduction that there has been a contradictory critical response to this poet. Detractors claim the poetry is "academic" and "over-intellectualized," while his admirers think of it as "self-reflexive and multifaceted."^ In a generally favorable review of The Blue Swallows, Joe Conarroe remarks that Howard Nemerov is no "undergrad- uate hero." 2 At least for the present this is surely true. Nemerov's art is a cultivated, sophisticated achievement, and there is none of the uncritical enthusiasms that might create a temporary and faddish audience. When Nemerov is at his best, which is a great deal of the time, his mind and art are certainly uncompromising. Except for Peter Meinke's monograph, Howard Nemerov, published in 1968, which is a brief survey of Nemerov's poetry, fiction and criticism, no extended study has been ^Bowie Duncan, The Critical Reception of Howard Neme rov, (Metuchen, N. J.: The Scarecrow Press, 1971), p. viii. 2 Joel Conarroe, "Visions and Revisions," Shenandoah, (Summer, 1968), as found in Bowie Duncan (ed.), The Critical Reception of Howard Nemerov (Metuchen, N.Y.: The Scarecrow Press, 1971), p. 137. 1 2 published. It is my opinion that Nemerov's reputation will likely endure because of the poetry (so far there are seven volumes). With these things in mind, I have set about writing this critical introduction. From what kind of world do the poems emerge? One way of describing this world is inductively— piecing together the fabric of this world by examining individual poems. Generally, the finest poems play the most important role in the description. On occasion, however, poems less finely wrought are just as useful as better ones. Thus, poems like "Debate with the Rabbi" or "Sunday" might not be as satisfying as "Moment" or the excellent "Runes," but may prove just as valuable in such a description. I have found it convenient in the first part of this study to divide the poems that describe Nemerov's world into three of the categories that philosophers have like wise found useful in inquiring about the world at large: epistemology, metaphysics and aesthetics. Such divisions may not always be helpful in the study of every poet, but with one like Nemerov, I think it is. Meinke has gone so 3 far as to call him a philosopher. Whether one agrees with this or not, it is unquestionably true that Nemerov has been very preoccupied with questions that have likewise 3 Peter Meinke, "Twenty Years of Accomplishment," Florida Quarterly, (October 1968), as found in Bowie Duncan yed.), The Critical Reception of Howard Nemerov (Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, 1971), p.