He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and was a graduate of Columbia University, where he studied under Mark Van Doren,[2] and where he was an emeritus professor.
A prolific literary critic, Howard's monumental 1969 volume Alone With America stretches to 594 pages[3] and profiles 41 American poets who had published at least two books each and "have come into a characteristic and—as I see it—consequential identity since the time, say, of the Korean War."
As I quoted Shaw in the book's preface, if you cannot believe in the greatness of your own age and inheritance, you will fall into confusion of mind and contrariety of spirit.
A past Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, he was a Professor of Practice in the writing program at Columbia's School of the Arts.
"[7] Howard was renowned for the extreme number of books that he had collected over his lifetime and which famously lined the walls of his New York City apartment.