SOURCE: Skinner, John F. “Semantic Play in the Poetry of Howard Nemerov.” Literature in Performance: A Journal of Literary and Performing Art 6 (April 1986): 44-59.

In the following essay, Skinner examines the various manifestations of game-playing and word play in Nemerov's poetry.

In Fear of Flying, Erica Jong has her precocious narrator-protagonist clash at one point with a figure familiar to many readers. Trembling in her purple-suede boots, Isadora Wing confides to Professor Stanton that she wants to write satire rather than criticize it, that she doesn't find criticism very satisfying:

“Satisfying!” he exploded.

I gulped.

“What makes you think that graduate school is supposed to be satisfying? Literature is work, not fun,” he said.

“Yes,” I said meekly.

“You come to graduate school because you love to read, because you love literature—well, literature is hard work! It's not a game!”

Professor Stanton seemed to have found his...