Donald Andrew Hall Jr. (September 20, 1928 – June 23, 2018) was an American poet, writer, editor, and literary critic. He was the author of more than 50 books across several genres from children's literature, biography, memoir, essays, and including 22 volumes of verse. Hall was a graduate of

Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

. Early in his career, he became the first poetry editor of ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...

'' (1953–1961), the quarterly literary journal, and was noted for interviewing poets and other authors on their craft. On June 14, 2006, Hall was appointed as the Library of Congress's 14th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry (commonly known as "Poet Laureate of the United States"). He is regarded as a "plainspoken, rural poet," and it has been said that, in his work, he "explores the longing for a more bucolic past and reflects nabiding reverence for nature."Poetry Foundation (Chicago, Illinois). Biography: Donald Hall (found onlin
here
(Retrieved November 20, 2012). Hall was respected for his work as an academic, having taught at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont, United States. Founded as a women’s college in 1932,

and the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, and having made significant contributions to the study and craft of writing.

Life and career

Early life and education

Hall was born in

Hamden, Connecticut Hamden is a New England town, town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant (Connecticut), Sleeping Giant". The town is part of the South Central Connecticut Planning Region, Connecti ...

, the only child of Donald Andrew Hall, a businessman, and Lucy Wells. He was educated at

, then earned an A.B.

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

in 1951, where he was elected to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

, and a B.Litt., from

in 1953. Hall began writing even before reaching his teens, beginning with poems and short stories, and then moving on to novels and dramatic verse. Hall continued to write throughout his prep school years at Exeter, and, while still only sixteen years old, attended the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, where he made his first acquaintance with the poet

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American Colloquialism, colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New E ...

. That same year, he published his first work. While an undergraduate at Harvard, Hall served on the editorial board of '' The Harvard Advocate'', and got to know a number of people who, like him, were poised with significant ambitions in the literary world, amongst them

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

Robert Bly Robert Elwood Bly (December 23, 1926 – November 21, 2021) was an American poet, essayist, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement. His best-known prose book is '' Iron John: A Book About Men'' (1990), which spent 62 weeks on ...

Kenneth Koch Kenneth Koch ( ; February 27, 1925 – July 6, 2002) was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77.) He was a prominent poet of the New York School of poetry. This was a loose group of poets inc ...

Frank O'Hara Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American writer, poet, and art critic. A curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O'Hara became prominent in New York City's art world. O'Hara is regarded as a leading figure i ...

, and

Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...

. During his senior year, he won the Glascock Prize that Koch had won 3 years earlier. After leaving Harvard, Hall went to Oxford for two years, to study for the B.Litt. He was the editor of the magazine '' Oxford Poetry'', as literary editor of Isis, as editor of New Poems, and as poetry editor of ''

''. At the end of his first Oxford year, Hall also won the university's

Newdigate Prize Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize, more commonly the Newdigate Prize, is awarded by the University of Oxford for the Best Composition in English verse by an undergraduate student. It was founded in 1806 as a memorial to Sir Roger Newdigate (1719–1 ...

, awarded for his long poem, 'Exile'. In September 1952, he married his first wife, Kirby Thompson, with whom he had his son and daughter. On returning to the United States, Hall went to

, where he spent one year as a creative writing fellow, studying under the poet-critic,

Yvor Winters Arthur Yvor Winters (October 17, 1900 – January 25, 1968) was an American poet and literary critic. Life Winters was born in Chicago, Illinois and lived there until 1919 except for brief stays in Seattle and Pasadena, where his grandparents ...

. Following his year at Stanford, Hall went back to Harvard, where he spent three years in the Society of Fellows. During that time, he put together his first book, ''Exiles and Marriages''. In 1957, with Robert Pack and Louis Simpson, he edited an anthology which was to make a significant impression on both sides of the Atlantic, '' New Poets of England and America.'' It was later juxtaposed with Donald Allen's '' The New American Poetry 1945–1960''. In 1968, he signed the "

Writers and Editors War Tax Protest Tax resistance, the practice of refusing to pay taxes that are considered unjust, has probably existed ever since rulers began imposing taxes on their subjects. It has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse o ...

" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. While teaching at the

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

, he met the poet Jane Kenyon, whom he married in 1972. Three years later, the couple moved to Eagle Pond Farm, his grandparents' former home in Wilmot, New Hampshire. Hall and Kenyon were profiled at their home in a 1993 PBS documentary, "A Life Together", which aired as an episode of ''

Bill Moyers Journal ''Bill Moyers Journal'' was an American television current affairs program that covered an array of current affairs and human issues, including economics, history, literature, religion, philosophy, science, and most frequently politics. Bill M ...

''. In 1989, when Hall was in his early sixties, it was discovered that he had colon cancer. Surgery followed, but by 1992 the cancer had metastasized to his liver. After another operation, and chemotherapy, he went into remission, though he was told that he only had a one-in-three chance of surviving the next five years. Then, early in 1994, it was discovered that Kenyon had leukemia. Her illness, her death fifteen months later, and Hall's struggle to come to terms with these things, were the subject of his 1998 book, ''Without''. Another book of poems dedicated to Kenyon, ''Painted Bed'', is cited by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' as "more controlled, more varied and more powerful, this taut follow-up volume reexamines Hall's grief while exploring the life he has made since. The book's first poem, 'Kill the Day,' stands among the best Hall has ever written. It examines mourning in 16 long-lined stanzas, alternating catalogue with aphorism, understatement with keen lament: 'How many times will he die in his own lifetime?'" Hall served as a member of the editorial board for poetry at the

Wesleyan University Press Wesleyan University Press is a university press that is part of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The press is currently directed by Suzanna Tamminen, a published poet and essayist. History and overview Founded (in its present form ...

from 1958 to 1964. He was closely affiliated with the Bennington College's graduate writing program since 1994, giving lectures and readings annually.

Career

Hall published fifteen books of poetry, most recently ''White Apples and the Taste of Stone'' (2006), ''The Painted Bed'' (2002) and ''Without: Poems'' (1998), which was published on the third anniversary of Kenyon's death. Most of the poems in ''Without'' deal with Kenyon's illness and death, and many are epistolary poems. In addition to poetry, he also wrote several memoirs (among them ''Life Work'' and ''String Too Short to be Saved''), children's books (notably '' Ox-Cart Man'', which won the

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

), and a number of plays. His recurring themes include

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

rural living, baseball, and how work conveys meaning to ordinary life. He is regarded as a master both of received forms and

free verse Free verse is an open form of poetry which does not use a prescribed or regular meter or rhyme and tends to follow the rhythm of natural or irregular speech. Free verse encompasses a large range of poetic form, and the distinction between free ...

, and a champion of the art of revision, for whom writing is a craft, not merely a mode of self-expression. Hall won many awards, including two

Guggenheim Fellowships Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

and a

Medal, and served as poet laureate of his state. He lived and worked at Eagle Pond Farm. When not working on poems, he turned his hand to reviews, criticism, textbooks, sports journalism, memoirs, biographies, children's stories, and plays. He also devoted a lot of time to editing. Between 1983 and 1996 he oversaw publication of more than sixty titles for the University of Michigan Press alone. He was for five years Poet Laureate of his home state,

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

(1984–89), and among the many other honours and awards to have come his way were: the Lamont Poetry Prize for ''Exiles and Marriages'' (1955), the Edna St Vincent Millay Award (1956), two Guggenheim Fellowships (1963–64, 1972–73), inclusion on the Horn Book Honour List (1986), the Sarah Josepha Hale Award (1983), the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize (1987), the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

Book Prize in poetry (1989), and the Frost Medal (1990). He was nominated for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

on three separate occasions (1956, 1979 and 1993). In 1994, he received the

Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize The Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize is awarded annually by The Poetry Foundation, which also publishes ''Poetry'' magazine. The prize was established in 1986 by Ruth Lilly. It honors a living U.S. poet whose "lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordin ...

for his lifetime achievement. Hall was named the fourteenth U.S. Poet Laureate, succeeding Ted Kooser. He served from October 1, 2006, and was succeeded by

Charles Simic Dušan Simić ( sr-cyr, Душан Симић, ; May 9, 1938 – January 9, 2023), known as Charles Simic, was a Serbian American poet and poetry co-editor of ''The Paris Review''. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 for '' The W ...

the following year. At the time of his appointment, Hall was profiled in an episode of '' The News Hour with Jim Lehrer'' which aired on October 16, 2006. Hall was awarded the 2010

National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...

by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. Hall's penultimate work is a 2018 recording of an eleven-song cycle on the topic of mortality, entitled "Mortality Mansions: Songs of Love and Loss After 60." The poems are by Hall and are read by the author, the music is by Grammy Award-winning composer Herschel Garfein. His last book ''A Carnival of Losses: Essays Nearing Ninety'' was published on July 10, 2018.

Film

Donald Hall was the subject of a short documentary by Paul Szynol called ''Quiet Hours''. He also appeared in Ken Burns's 1994 documentary on baseball.

Music

Donald Hall was the subject of "Great Gig in the Sky," the 5th track of

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...

' album The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, released on October 6th, 2023. The song discusses Donald Hall's passing, in which his assistant, Kendel Currier, contacts Waters informing him that Hall is in the hospital with sinus cancer. The song continues, eventually revealing that an estate sale was organized for the Eagle Farm, where Waters requested "a couple of bale hooks and some baling twine from the barn." The lyrics refer to Donald Hall's "red chair" - although his chair, famously, was blue. Whether this is a mistake or artistic licence is unclear. The song ends with "Well, R.I.P., Donald Hall."

Personal life

Hall lived at Eagle Pond Farm in Wilmot, New Hampshire, a small town in Merrimack County. He was married to poet and author Jane Kenyon (1947–1995) for 23 years and lived with her until her death. Hall died on June 23, 2018, at the age of 89, at his home in Wilmot.

Selected awards and honors

* 1952:

* 1955: Lamont Poetry Prize, for ''Exiles and Marriages'' * 1956:

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyric poetry, lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted Feminism, feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. ...

Award * 1956: Nomination for the

* 1963–1964:

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

* 1972–1973: Guggenheim Fellowship * 1979: Nomination for the National Book Award * 1980:

for Ox-Cart Man * 1984–1989: Poet Laureate of New Hampshire * 1983:

Sarah Josepha Hale Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (October 24, 1788April 30, 1879) was an American writer, activist, and editor of the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the American Civil War, Civil War, ''Godey's Lady's Book''. She was the author of t ...

Award * 1986: ''Horn Book'' Honour List * 1987:

Lenore Marshall Lenore Guinzburg Marshall (September 7, 1899, New York City – September 23, 1971, Doylestown, Pennsylvania) was an American poet, novelist, and activist. Life She was the daughter of Harry and Leonie (Kleinert) Guinzburg. She graduated from Bar ...

Poetry Prize * 1988: National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry * 1989: ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' Book Prize in poetry * 1990: Robert Frost Medal from the

Poetry Society of America Poetry (from the Greek word '' poiesis'', "making") is a form of literary art that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, literal or surface-level meanings. Any partic ...

* 1991: Honorary Doctor of Letters (in honoris causa) from

Bates College Bates College () is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian ...

. * 1993: Nomination for the National Book Award * 1994:

for his lifetime achievement. * 1999: L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award for ''Without: Poems'' * 2006–2007: Fourteenth U.S. Poet Laureate * 2010:

Bibliography

Poetry

* 1952: ''Exile'' * 1952: ''Fantasy Poets Number Four'' * 1955: ''Exiles and Marriages'' * 1957: '' New Poets of England and America'' * 1958: ''The Dark Houses'' * 1964: ''A Roof of Tiger Lilies'' * 1969: ''The Alligator Bride'' * 1971: ''The Yellow Room: Love Poems'' * 1975: ''The Town of Hill'' * 1975: ''A Blue Wing Tilts at the Edge of the Sea: Selected Poems, 1964–1974'' * 1978: ''Kicking the Leaves'' * 1979: ''The Toy Bone'' * 1981: ''The Wilderness Years'' * 1986: ''The Happy Man'' * 1988: '' The One Day'' * 1990: ''Old and New Poems'' * 1993: ''The Museum of Clear Ideas'' * 1996: ''The Old Life'' * 1998: ''Without'' * 2000: ''Two by Two'' (with Richard Wilbur) * 2002: ''The Painted Bed'' * 2006: ''White Apples and the Taste of Stone'' * 2011: ''The Back Chamber'' * 2015: ''The Selected Poems of Donald Hall''

Essays

* 1978: ''Goatfoot Milktongue Twinbird: Interviews, Essays, and Notes on Poetry, 1970–76'' * 1983: ''The Weather for Poetry: Essays, Reviews, and Notes on Poetry, 1977–81'' * 1985: ''Fathers Playing Catch with Sons: Essays on Sports (Mostly Baseball)'' * 1988: ''Poetry and Ambition: Essays 1982–88'' * 1995: ''Death to the Death of Poetry: Essays, Reviews, Notes, Interviews'' * 1995: ''Principal Products of Portugal: Prose Pieces'' * 2014: ''Essays After Eighty'' * 2018: ''A Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety'' (published posthumously)

Biography

* 1966: ''

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...

'' * 1976: ''Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball'' * 1978: ''Remembering Poets: Reminiscences and Opinions'' * 1992: ''Their Ancient Glittering Eyes'' Full titles imply a biographical memoir covering four poets, expanded to cover seven. * ''Remembering Poets: Reminiscences and Opinions: Dylan Thomas, Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound'' * ''Their Ancient Glittering Eyes: Remembering Poets and More Poets: Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas, T.S. Eliot, Archibald MacLeish, Yvor Winters, Marianne Moore, Ezra Pound'' *''Old Poets: Reminiscences and Opinions. Introduction by Wesley McNair '' * 2021: ''Old Poets''

Drama

* 1965: ''An Evening's Frost'' * 1975: '' Bread and Roses'' * 1983: ''Ragged Mountain Elegies''

For children

* 1959: ''Andrew the Lion Farmer'' * 1977: ''Riddle Rat'' * 1979: '' Ox-Cart Man'' (illustrated by Barbara Cooney) * 1981: ''The Mooch, A Canine Adventure'' * 1984: ''The Man Who Lived Alone'' * 1994: ''The Farm Summer 1942'' (illustrated by Barry Moser) * 1994: ''I Am the Dog, I Am the Cat'' (illustrated by Barry Moser) * 1994: ''Summer of 1944'' * 1994: ''Lucy's Christmas'' * 1995: ''Lucy's Summer'' * 1995: ''The Pageant'' (illustrated by Barry Moser) * 1996: ''Old Home Day'' * 1996: ''When Willard Met Babe Ruth'' * 1997: ''The Milkman's Boy''

Short stories

* 1987: ''The Ideal Bakery'' * 2003: ''Willow Temple: New and Selected Stories''

Memoirs

* 1961: ''String too Short to Be Saved'' * 1987: ''Seasons at Eagle Pond'' * 1992: ''Here at Eagle Pond'' * 1993: ''Life Work'' * 2005: ''The Best Day the Worst Day: Life with Jane Kenyon'' * 2007: ''On Eagle Pond'' * 2008: ''Unpacking the Boxes: A Memoir of a Life in Poetry''

Textbooks

* 1981: ''To Read Literature'' * 1992: ''To Read a Poem'' * 1994: ''Writing Well'' (later editions with Sven Birkerts)

Recorded

* 2018: ''Mortality Mansions: Songs of Love and Loss after 60'' (with Herschel Garfein, Michael Slattery, and Marnie Breckenridge)

Notes

References

External links

*
Donald Hall, Poet Laureate of the United States, talks with Robert Birnbaum
on ''Identity Theory'' website, posted December 18, 2006
"Between Solitude and Loneliness"
by Donald Hall, ''New Yorker'', October 15, 2016

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Donald 1928 births 2018 deaths Alumni of the University of Oxford American male poets American poets laureate American tax resisters Glascock Prize winners Harvard Advocate alumni Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Poets from New Hampshire Poets laureate of New Hampshire United States National Medal of Arts recipients University of Michigan faculty Wesleyan University people Writers from New Haven, Connecticut People from Wilmot, New Hampshire