--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When I was starting to write, the great…" description: "\"When I was starting to write, the great influence was T.S. Eliot and after that William Butler Yeats.\" — Howard Nemerov" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/034/howard-nemerov-12728_eliot_when-i-was-starting-to-write-the-great-i_2780301.jpg" --- # When I was starting to write, the great influence was T.S… ![“When I was starting to write, the great influence was T.S. Eliot and after that William Butler Yeats.” quote by Howard Nemerov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/034/howard-nemerov-12728_eliot_when-i-was-starting-to-write-the-great-i_2780301.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/034/howard-nemerov-12728_eliot_when-i-was-starting-to-write-the-great-i_2780301.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/034/howard-nemerov-12728_eliot_when-i-was-starting-to-write-the-great-i_2780301.jpg) > “When I was starting to write, the great influence was T.S. Eliot and after that William Butler Yeats.” [Howard Nemerov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-nemerov/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Early influences shape a writer’s voice; Eliot and Yeats guided his development. **In simple terms:** Eliot and Yeats influenced his early writing. Key Takeaway Recognize formative inspirations. Themes literature influence growth Mood reflective introspective Type observational personal When to use this quote - creative writing classes - personal memoirs - literary analysis Key Concepts poetry modernism symbolism Questions to Reflect On - Which aspects of their style do you adopt? - How do you balance influence with originality? A Different Perspective Attributing influence may oversimplify personal originality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Influence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/influence/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before —William Butler Yeats”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-kiernan-lewis/every-trial-endured-and-weathered-in-the-right-spirit-makes-a-soul-2/) [Susan Kiernan-Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-kiernan-lewis/) > [“We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather around us, that they may see their own images, and so live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kornfield/we-can-make-our-minds-so-like-still-water-that-beings-gather-around/) [Jack Kornfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kornfield/) > [William Butler Yeats Through all the lying days of my youth I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; Now I may wither…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/william-butler-yeats-through-all-the-lying-days-of-my-youth-i-swayed/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [“The poet William Butler Yeats said, “We taste and feel and see the truth. 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Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-b-yeats/) > [We have now the remarkable spectacle that just when many scientific men are agreed that there is no part of the Darwinian system that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-dwight/we-have-now-the-remarkable-spectacle-that-just-when-many-scientific/) Thomas Dwight > [Mantovani was a great influence on me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-may/mantovani-was-a-great-influence-on-me/) [Brian May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-may/) > [Dick Clark was a really great influence in my career; he helped me a lot with his whole organization, and they were awesome to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cyndi-lauper/dick-clark-was-a-really-great-influence-in-my-career-he-helped-me-a/) [Cyndi Lauper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cyndi-lauper/) ## More by Howard Nemerov > [A chronicle is very different from history proper.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-nemerov/a-chronicle-is-very-different-from-history-proper/) [Howard Nemerov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-nemerov/) > [When Robert Frost was alive, I was known as the other new England poet, which is to be barely known at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-nemerov/when-robert-frost-was-alive-i-was-known-as-the-other-new-england-poet/) [Howard Nemerov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-nemerov/) > [I've never read a political poem that's accomplished anything. Poetry makes things happen, but rarely what the poet wants.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-nemerov/i-ve-never-read-a-political-poem-that-s-accomplished-anything-poetry/) [Howard Nemerov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-nemerov/) > [When you write it doesn't occur to you that somebody could think different from what you do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-nemerov/when-you-write-it-doesn-t-occur-to-you-that-somebody-could-think/) [Howard Nemerov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-nemerov/) > [Both poet and painter want to reach the silence behind the language, the silence within the language. 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I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-nemerov/robert-frost-had-always-said-you-mustn-t-think-of-the-last-line-first/) [Howard Nemerov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-nemerov/) > [Till I, high in the tower of my time Among familiar ruins, began to cry For accident, sickness, justice, war and crime, Because all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-nemerov/till-i-high-in-the-tower-of-my-time-among-familiar-ruins-began-to-cry/) [Howard Nemerov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-nemerov/) [Explore all 52 Howard Nemerov quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-nemerov/) ## More Eliot quotes > [“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. —T. S. Eliot”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-karnazes/only-those-who-will-risk-going-too-far-can-possibly-find-out-how-far/) [Dean Karnazes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-karnazes/) > [Great literature has always been written in a like spirit, and is, indeed, the Forgiveness of Sin, and when we find it becoming the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/great-literature-has-always-been-written-in-a-like-spirit-and-is/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Pound had argued - and Eliot had helped him prove - that a poem could be sustained by memorable moments. Olson proved that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-james/pound-had-argued-and-eliot-had-helped-him-prove-that-a-poem-could-be/) [Clive James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-james/) > [“The angels come to visit us,          and we only know them   when they are gone.     —George Eliot”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-brashares/the-angels-come-to-visit-us-and-we-only-know-them-when-they-are-gone/) [Ann Brashares](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-brashares/) > [I have but one life to give to adventure. " Alexander Eliot -" Life is a fatal adventure. It can only have one end.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-bors/i-have-but-one-life-to-give-to-adventure-alexander-eliot-life-is-a/) Matt Bors > [“The top eleven are, in order, T. S. Eliot’s “Prufrock,” Robert Lowell’s “Skunk Hour,” Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” William…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-gladwell/the-top-eleven-are-in-order-t-s-eliot-s-prufrock-robert-lowell-s/) [Malcolm Gladwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-gladwell/) > [“Do we not wile away moments of inanity or fatigued waiting by repeating some trivial movement or sound, until the repetition has bred a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/do-we-not-wile-away-moments-of-inanity-or-fatigued-waiting-by/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [When I was a teenager I fell in love with TS Eliot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olga-tokarczuk/when-i-was-a-teenager-i-fell-in-love-with-ts-eliot/) [Olga Tokarczuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olga-tokarczuk/) > [“Eliot was scornful of idle women readers who imagined themselves the heroines of French novels, and of self-regarding folk who saw themselves in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-mead/eliot-was-scornful-of-idle-women-readers-who-imagined-themselves-the/) [Rebecca Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-mead/) > [But you know, where did the Brontes go to college? Where did George Eliot go to college? Where did Thomas Paine or Thomas Jefferson…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamaica-kincaid/but-you-know-where-did-the-brontes-go-to-college-where-did-george/) [Jamaica Kincaid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamaica-kincaid/) > [Most people think that George Nelson, Charles Eames and Eliot Noyes invented industrial design. That is, of course, an exaggeration. George did it without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-n-lacy/most-people-think-that-george-nelson-charles-eames-and-eliot-noyes/) Bill N. Lacy > [Pound was silly, bumptious, extravagantly generous, annoying, exhibitionistic; Eliot was sensible, cautious, retiring, soothing, shy. Though Pound wrote some brilliant passages, on the whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-mathews/pound-was-silly-bumptious-extravagantly-generous-annoying/) T.S. Mathews > [Writers in the nineteenth century - people like George Eliot and Flaubert - were accustomed to addressing particular communities with which they shared not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/writers-in-the-nineteenth-century-people-like-george-eliot-and/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [Universities are filled with poets and novelists conducting demure and careful lives in imitation of Eliot and Forster and those others who (through what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/universities-are-filled-with-poets-and-novelists-conducting-demure/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [I don't know if I call myself a poet or not. I would like to, but I'm not really qualified to make that decision,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/i-don-t-know-if-i-call-myself-a-poet-or-not-i-would-like-to-but-i-m/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) Browse all 144 Eliot quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When I was starting to write, the great influence was T.S. 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