Hall, Donald (Andrew, Jr.)

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HALL, Donald (Andrew, Jr.)


Nationality: American. Born: New Haven, Connecticut, 20 September 1928. Education: Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire; Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Garrison and Sergeant prizes, 1951), B.A. 1951; Oxford University (Henry Fellow; Newdigate prize, 1952), B.Litt. 1953; Stanford University, California (creative writing fellow), 1953–54. Family: Married first wife in 1952 (divorced 1969), one son and one daughter; married Jane Kenyon in 1972 (died 1995). Career: Junior fellow, Society of Fellows, Harvard University, 1954–57; assistant professor, 1957–61, associate professor, 1961–66, and professor of English, 1966–75, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Poetry editor, Paris Review, Paris and New York, 1953–62; member of the editorial board for poetry, Wesleyan University Press, 1958–64. Consultant, Harper and Row publishers, 1964–81. Lived in England, 1959–60, 1963–64. Deacon, South Danbury Church, New Hampshire. Awards: Lamont Poetry Selection award, 1955; Edna St. Vincent Millay memorial prize, 1956; Longview Foundation award, 1960; Guggenheim fellowship, 1963, 1972; Sarah Josepha Hale award, 1983; Lenore Marshall award, 1987; N.B.C.C. award, 1989; Los Angeles Times award and National Book Critics Circle award, 1989, for The One Day; Robert Frost Silver medal, Poetry Society of America, 1991; Lifetime Achievement award, New Hampshire Writers and Publisher Project, 1992; New England Book award for nonfiction, 1993; Lily prize for poetry, 1994. Honorary Degrees: Presbyterian College, Colby-Sawyer College, Daniel Webster College; New England College, State University of New York, Bates College, University of New Hampshire, University of Michigan, Plymouth State College. Poet Laureate of New Hampshire, 1984–89. American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 1989. Agent: Gerard McCauley Agency Inc., P.O. Box AE, Katonah, New York 10536. Address: Eagle Pond Farm, Danbury, New Hampshire 03230–9599, U.S.A.

Publications

Poetry

(Poems). Oxford, Fantasy Press, 1952.

Exile. Privately printed, 1952.

To the Loud Wind and Other Poems. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard Advocate, 1955.

Exiles and Marriages. New York, Viking Press, 1955.

The Dark Houses. New York, Viking Press, 1958.

A Roof of Tiger Lilies. New York, Viking Press, and London, Deutsch, 1964.

The Alligator Bride. Menomonie, Wisconsin, Ox Head Press, 1968.

The Alligator Bride: Poems New and Selected. New York, Harper, 1969.

The Yellow Room: Love Poems. New York, Harper, 1971.

A Blue Tit Tilts at the Edge of the Sea: Selected Poems 1964–1974. London, Secker and Warburg, 1975.

The Town of Hill. Boston, Godine, 1975.

Kicking the Leaves. Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, Perishable Press, 1975.

Kicking the Leaves (collection). New York, Harper, 1978; London, Secker and Warburg, 1979.

The Toy Bone. Brockport, New York, Boa, 1979.

The Twelve Seasons. Deerfield, Massachusetts, Deerfield Press, and Dublin, Gallery Press, 1983.

Brief Lives. Concord, New Hampshire, William B. Ewert, 1983.

Great Day in the Cows' House. Mt. Carmel, Connecticut, Ives Street Press, 1984.

The Happy Man. New York, Random House, and London, Secker and Warburg, 1986.

The One Day: A Poem in Three Parts. New York, Ticknor and Fields, 1988.

Old and New Poems. New York, Ticknor and Fields, 1990.

The One Day and Poems (1947–1990). Manchester, Carcanet, 1991.

The Museum of Clear Ideas. New York, Ticknor & Fields, 1993.

The Old Life. New York, Houghton Mifflin, 1996.

Without. New York, Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

Recordings: Today's Poets 1, with others, Folkways, 1967; Names of Horses, Watershed, 1985; Donald Hall Prose and Poetry, Audio Bookshelf, 1997.

Plays

An Evening's Frost (produced New York, 1965).

Bread and Roses (produced Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1975).

Ragged Mountain Elegies (produced Peterborough, New Hampshire, 1983).

The Bone Ring (produced New York, 1986). Santa Cruz, California, Story Line Press. 1987.

Short Stories

The Ideal Bakery. Berkeley, California, North Point Press, 1987.

Other

Andrew the Lion Farmer (for children). New York, Watts, 1959; London, Methuen, 1961.

String Too Short to Be Saved. New York, Viking Press, 1961; London, Deutsch, 1962.

Henry Moore: The Life and Work of a Great Sculptor. New York, Harper, and London, Gollancz, 1966.

Marianne Moore: The Cage and the Animal. New York, Pegasus, 1970.

As the Eye Moves: A Sculpture by Henry Moore. New York, Abrams, 1970.

The Gentleman's Alphabet Book. New York, Dutton, 1972.

Writing Well. Boston, Little Brown, 1973; revised edition, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1985; revised edition, Glenview, Illinois, Scott Foresman, 1988; revised edition, with Sven Birkerts, New York, Harper Collins, 1991.

Playing Around: The Million-Dollar Infield Goes to Florida, with others. Boston, Little Brown, 1974.

Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball, with Dock Ellis. New York, Coward McCann, 1976.

Riddle Rat (for children). New York, Warne, 1977.

Remembering Poets: Reminiscences and Opinions—Dylan Thomas, Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound. New York, Harper, 1978.

Goatfoot Milktongue Twinbird: Interviews, Essays, and Notes on

Poetry 1970–76. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1978.

Ox-Cart Man (for children). New York, Viking Press, 1979; London, MacRae, 1980.

To Keep Moving. Geneva, New York, Seneca, 1980.

To Read Literature: Fiction, Poetry, Drama. New York, Holt Rinehart, 1981; revised edition, 1983, 1987.

The Weather for Poetry: Essays, Reviews, and Notes on Poetry 1977–81. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1982.

The Man Who Lived Alone (for children). Boston, Godine, 1984.

Fathers Playing Catch with Sons: Essays on Sport (Mostly Baseball). Berkeley, California, North Point Press, 1985.

Winter (essays), with Clifton C. Olds. Hanover, New Hampshire, University Press of New England, 1986.

Seasons at Eagle Pond. New York, Ticknor and Fields, 1987.

Poetry and Ambition: Essays 1982–1988. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1988.

Anecdotes of Modern Art, with Pat Corrigan Wykes. New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1990.

Here at Eagle Pond. New York, Ticknor & Fields, 1990.

Their Ancient Glittering Eyes. New York, Ticknor & Fields, 1992.

Life Work. New York, Beacon Press, 1993.

Death to Death of Poetry. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1994.

Farm Summer 1942 (for children). New York, Dial Press, 1994.

I Am the Dog, I Am the Cat (for children). New York, Dial Press, 1994.

Lucy's Christmas (for children). New York, Harcourt Brace, 1994.

Lucy's Summer (for children). New York, Harcourt Brace, 1995.

Principal Products of Portugal. Boston, Beacon Press, 1995.

When Willard Met Babe Ruth (for children). New York, Harcourt Brace, 1996.

Old Home Day (for children). New York, Harcourt Brace, 1996.

The Milkman's Boy. N.p., Walker and Co., 1997.

Editor, The Harvard Advocate Anthology. New York, Twayne, 1950.

Editor, with Robert Pack and Louis Simpson, New Poets of England and America. Cleveland, Meridian, 1957; London, New English Library, 1974; Second Selection, with Pack, 1962.

Editor, Whittier. New York, Dell, 1961.

Editor, Contemporary American Poetry. London, Penguin, 1962; revised edition, 1971.

Editor, A Poetry Sampler. New York, Watts, 1962.

Editor, with Stephen Spender, The Concise Encyclopedia of English and American Poets and Poetry. London, Hutchinson, and New York, Hawthorn, 1963; revised edition, 1970.

Editor, with Warren Taylor, Poetry in English. New York, Macmillan, 1963; revised edition, 1970.

Editor, The Faber Book of Modern Verse, revised edition. London, Faber, 1965.

Editor, A Choice of Whitman's Verse. London, Faber, 1968.

Editor, The Modern Stylists: Writers on the Art of Writing. New York, Free Press, 1968.

Editor, Man and Boy: An Anthology. New York, Watts, 1968.

Editor, American Poetry: An Introductory Anthology. London, Faber, 1969.

Editor, The Pleasures of Poetry. New York, Harper, 1971.

Editor, with D.L. Emblen, A Writer's Reader. Boston, Little Brown, 1976; revised edition, 1979, 1982, 1985; revised edition, Glenview, Illinois, Scott Foresman, 1988.

Editor, To Read Literature. New York, Holt, 1980.

Editor, To Read Poetry. New York, Holt, 1981.

Editor, The Oxford Book of American Literary Anecdotes. New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1981.

Editor, Claims for Poetry. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1982.

Editor, The Contemporary Essay. Boston, Bedford, 1984.

Editor, The Oxford Book of Children's Verse in America. New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1985.

Editor, To Read Fiction. New York, Holt, 1987.

Editor, with David Lehman, The Best American Poetry. New York, Scribner, 1989.

Editor, The Essential Andrew Marvell. New York, Ecco Press, 1991.

Editor, The Essential E.A. Robinson. New York, Ecco Press, 1993.

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Critical Studies: By Ralph J. Mills, Jr., in Iowa Review (Iowa City), Winter 1971; "Donald Hall Issue" of Tennessee Poetry Journal (Martin), Winter 1971; The Day I Was Older: Collected Writings on the Poetry of Donald Hall, edited by Liam Rector, Santa Cruz, California, Story Line Press, 1989; "Donald Hall: Elegies from Eagle Pond" by Michael Scharf, in Publishers Weekly, 245 (12), 23 March 1998; "'"Building the House of Dying': Donald Hall's Claim for Poetry" by Chris Walsh, in Agni, 47, 1998.

*  *  *

The publication in 1988 of The One Day, a book-length lyric sequence, marked Donald Hall's most significant contribution to an American poetry steadily moving away from the solipsistic popular verse of the 1960s and 1970s. More and more American poetry is opening up both to acknowledge and to tell the stories of our larger human community. In its potent and diverse characters and in its three-part structure of compelling monologues, witty dialogues, and omniscient narration, The One Day both continues American poetry's expansive movement to a wider range of styles and subjects and raises the stakes for any long poem to come after:

   … We are one cell perpetually
   dying and being born, led by a single day that presides
   over our passage through the thirty thousand days
   from highchair past work and love to suffering death.
   We plant; we store the seed corn. Our sons and daughters
   topdress old trees. Two chimneys require:
   Work, love, build a house, and die. But build a house.

The artist in the poem's first section, recalling repressed early years and then resignedly looking out at the poem's end from a life of fame and accomplishment; the middle-aged man sitting alone in nervous melancholia, meditating on his father's tragedy and his own lifelong attempt to match it; the bathetic yuppie couple of the poem's middle section; and Senex, the mad philosopher—these characters raise their voices in a vatic splendor, the roots of which are found in Whitman and Pound.

The message these witnesses have to offer is an aggressive one. Our late twentieth-century greed, they tell us, will prove to be our doom. Only generations survive, they warn us, and then only by actively remembering. That humble, sustaining act of historical witnessing is our highest and most urgent responsibility. We will be defined as a nation and culture according to how we take it up.

Hall's labors have always aimed at taking this responsibility in hand, but he struggled hard to achieve the sharp focus of his mature point of view. By the time Kicking the Leaves was published in 1978, Hall had six full-length poetry collections to his credit and enjoyed a respected reputation in both England and the United States as a poet, editor, and literary journalist. The books preceding Kicking the Leaves showcased, more than anything else, Hall's restlessness and versatility. The formal elegies and meditations in Exiles and Marriages, his first book and the Lamont Poetry Selection for 1955, contrast sharply with the relaxed, deep image-inspired poems found in The Alligator Bride: Poems New and Selected. When Hall's least successful books, The Yellow Room: Love Poems and The Town of Hill, appeared by the mid-1970s, it was apparent that the poet had been victimized by his own versatility. This is a trap from which most poets never emerge.

Hall, recognizing the need for a profound change in his life as well as in his poetry, proved to be the exception. It was then that he left the academy after twenty years of teaching and moved back to the ancestral farmhouse in New Hampshire, the place where he had spent childhood summers with his grandparents and the locale he wrote so eloquently about in the prose memoir String Too Short to Be Saved and later adapted as the verse play The Bone Ring. The move rejuvenated both the life and the poetry, returning the mature man to the peopled landscapes and seasons that were most in the man to begin with:

   Now I leap and fall, exultant, recovering
   from death, on account of death, in accord with the dead,
   the smell and taste of leaves again,
   and the pleasure, the only long pleasure, of taking a place
   in the story of leaves.

This homecoming and the work it required has its essential documents in Kicking the Leaves and in volumes Hall followed it up with: The Happy Man; the selected Old and New Poems, with a closing section of new poems written between 1987 and 1990; The Museum of Clear Ideas, an ambitious collection that includes a sequence imitating the Odes of Horace with great wit and the epic "Baseball," a poem written in nine "innings," with each inning composed of nine stanzas, each stanza composed of nine lines, and each line composed of nine syllables; and the aforementioned The One Day. If these collections were combined into "The One Book," their consistency in vision, and arguably in style, would be readily recognizable, and we would better understand David Shapiro's claim, made in a review of The Happy Man in the journal Poetry, that the poems "give us a kind of rural antidote to the conventional urban Waste Land."

In a country like the United States that eschews aging and casts an amnesiac's eye on its past and traditions, in a country that increasingly focuses on the right now and the self at the expense of historical perspective and compassion for neighbors, Hall's poetry, and especially his verse since 1978, reminds us of what is most enduring in our culture. As Liam Rector put it in the introduction to The Day I Was Older (1989), his critical anthology dealing with Hall's poetry, "The word old is something of a key to Hall's work and thinking as he has, as much as any American poet ever has, looked to find what is good, worthwhile … about what is old."

A poet is ultimately judged on his ability to tell the true stories of his tribe. In late middle age Hall transcended the pack of popular academic plodders all around him to become a solitary singer whose remarkable vision has included us all.

—Robert McDowell