SOURCE: An interview with N. Scott Momaday, in American Poetry Review, Vol. 13, No. 4, July/August, 1984, pp. 13-18.

In the following excerpt from an interview conducted in December 1982, Momaday discusses such subjects as Yvor Winters' influence on his works, the difference between poetry and prose, the major themes in his poetry, and Native American literature.

[Joseph Bruchac]: In a recent book entitled Four American Indian Literary Masters, Alan R. Velie links your poetry strongly with those whom he calls "the post-symbolists" and your former teacher, Yvor Winters. Do you think that really was correct?

[N. Scott Momaday]: Well, to an extent, yes. I don't remember what Velie had to say, exactly. "Post-symbolist," by the way is Yvor Winters's term, not Velie's. It is an important concept in Winters's critical canon, and I would not presume to say what it is or what it has to do with my work...