What do you think?
Rate this book
Without: Poems
You might expect the fact of dying--the dying of a beloved wife and fellow poet--to make for a bleak and lonely tale. But Donald Hall's poignant and courageous poetry, facing that dread fact, involves us all: the magnificent, humorous, and gifted woman, Jane Kenyon, who suffered and died; the doctors and nurses who tried but failed to save her; the neighbors, friends, and relatives who grieved for her; the husband who sat by her while she lived and afterward sat in their house alone with his pain, self-pity, and fury; and those of us who till now had nothing to do with it. As Donald Hall writes, "Remembered happiness is agony; so is remembered agony." Without will touch every feeling reader, for everyone has suffered loss and requires the fellowship of elegy. In the earth's oldest poem, when Gilgamesh howls of the death of Enkidu, a grieving reader of our own time may feel a kinship, across the abyss of four thousand years, with a Sumerian king. In Without Donald Hall speaks to us all of grief, as a poet lamenting the death of a poet, as a husband mourning the loss of a wife. Without is Hall's greatest and most honorable achievement -- his give and testimony, his lament and his celebration of loss and of love.
81 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
60 people are currently reading
1715 people want to read
About the author
Donald Hall
180 books200 followersDonald Hall was considered one of the major American poets of his generation.
His poetry explores the longing for a more bucolic past and reflects the poet’s abiding reverence for nature. Although Hall gained early success with his first collection, Exiles and Marriages (1955), his later poetry is generally regarded as the best of his career. Often compared favorably with such writers as James Dickey, Robert Bly, and James Wright, Hall used simple, direct language to evoke surrealistic imagery. In addition to his poetry, Hall built a respected body of prose that includes essays, short fiction, plays, and children’s books. Hall, who lived on the New Hampshire farm he visited in summers as a boy, was also noted for the anthologies he has edited and is a popular teacher, speaker, and reader of his own poems.
Born in 1928, Hall grew up in Hamden, Connecticut. The Hall household was marked by a volatile father and a mother who was “steadier, maybe with more access to depths because there was less continual surface,” as Hall explained in an essay for Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series (CAAS). “To her I owe my fires, to my father my tears. I owe them both for their reading.” By age twelve, Hall had discovered the poet and short story writer Edgar Allan Poe: “I read Poe and my life changed,” he remarked in CAAS. Another strong influence in Hall’s early years was his maternal great-grandfather’s farm in New Hampshire, where he spent many summers. Decades later, he bought the same farm and settled there as a full-time writer and poet.
Hall attended Philips Exeter Academy and had his first poem published at age 16. He was a participant at the prestigious Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, where he met Robert Frost, that same year. From Exeter, Hall went to Harvard University, attending class alongside Adrienne Rich, Robert Bly, Frank O’Hara, and John Ashbery; he also studied for a year with Archibald MacLeish. Hall earned a BLitt from Oxford University and won the Newdigate contest for his poem “Exile,” one of the few Americans ever to win the prize. Returning to the United States, Hall spent a year at Stanford, studying under the poet-critic Yvor Winters, before returning to Harvard to join the prestigious Society of Fellows. It was there that Hall assembled Exiles and Marriages, a tightly-structured collection crafted in rigid rhyme and meter. In 1953, Hall also became the poetry editor of the Paris Review, a position he held until 1961. In 1957 he took a position as assistant professor of English at the University of Michigan, where he remained until 1975. While at Michigan, Hall met the young Jane Kenyon. They later married and, when Hall’s grandmother, who owned Eagle Pond Farm, passed away, bought the farm, left teaching, and moved there together. The collections Kicking the Leaves (1978) and The Happy Man (1986) reflect Hall’s happiness at his return to the family farm, a place rich with memories and links to his past. Many of the poems explore and celebrate the continuity between generations. The Happy Man won the Lenore Marshall/Nation Prize. Hall’s next book, The One Day (1988), won the National Book Critics Circle Award. A long poem that meditates on the on-set of old age, The One Day, like much of Hall’s early work, takes shape under formal pressure: composed of 110 stanzas, split over three sections, its final sections are written in blank verse. The critic Frederick Pollack praised the book as possibly “the last masterpiece of American Modernism. Any poet who seeks to surpass this genre should study it; any reader who has lost interest in contemporary poetry should read it.” Old and New Poems (1990) contains several traditional poems from earlier collections, as well as more innovative verses not previously published. “Baseball,” included in The Museum of Clear Ideas (1993), is the poet’s ode to the great American pastime and is structured around t
His poetry explores the longing for a more bucolic past and reflects the poet’s abiding reverence for nature. Although Hall gained early success with his first collection, Exiles and Marriages (1955), his later poetry is generally regarded as the best of his career. Often compared favorably with such writers as James Dickey, Robert Bly, and James Wright, Hall used simple, direct language to evoke surrealistic imagery. In addition to his poetry, Hall built a respected body of prose that includes essays, short fiction, plays, and children’s books. Hall, who lived on the New Hampshire farm he visited in summers as a boy, was also noted for the anthologies he has edited and is a popular teacher, speaker, and reader of his own poems.
Born in 1928, Hall grew up in Hamden, Connecticut. The Hall household was marked by a volatile father and a mother who was “steadier, maybe with more access to depths because there was less continual surface,” as Hall explained in an essay for Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series (CAAS). “To her I owe my fires, to my father my tears. I owe them both for their reading.” By age twelve, Hall had discovered the poet and short story writer Edgar Allan Poe: “I read Poe and my life changed,” he remarked in CAAS. Another strong influence in Hall’s early years was his maternal great-grandfather’s farm in New Hampshire, where he spent many summers. Decades later, he bought the same farm and settled there as a full-time writer and poet.
Hall attended Philips Exeter Academy and had his first poem published at age 16. He was a participant at the prestigious Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, where he met Robert Frost, that same year. From Exeter, Hall went to Harvard University, attending class alongside Adrienne Rich, Robert Bly, Frank O’Hara, and John Ashbery; he also studied for a year with Archibald MacLeish. Hall earned a BLitt from Oxford University and won the Newdigate contest for his poem “Exile,” one of the few Americans ever to win the prize. Returning to the United States, Hall spent a year at Stanford, studying under the poet-critic Yvor Winters, before returning to Harvard to join the prestigious Society of Fellows. It was there that Hall assembled Exiles and Marriages, a tightly-structured collection crafted in rigid rhyme and meter. In 1953, Hall also became the poetry editor of the Paris Review, a position he held until 1961. In 1957 he took a position as assistant professor of English at the University of Michigan, where he remained until 1975. While at Michigan, Hall met the young Jane Kenyon. They later married and, when Hall’s grandmother, who owned Eagle Pond Farm, passed away, bought the farm, left teaching, and moved there together. The collections Kicking the Leaves (1978) and The Happy Man (1986) reflect Hall’s happiness at his return to the family farm, a place rich with memories and links to his past. Many of the poems explore and celebrate the continuity between generations. The Happy Man won the Lenore Marshall/Nation Prize. Hall’s next book, The One Day (1988), won the National Book Critics Circle Award. A long poem that meditates on the on-set of old age, The One Day, like much of Hall’s early work, takes shape under formal pressure: composed of 110 stanzas, split over three sections, its final sections are written in blank verse. The critic Frederick Pollack praised the book as possibly “the last masterpiece of American Modernism. Any poet who seeks to surpass this genre should study it; any reader who has lost interest in contemporary poetry should read it.” Old and New Poems (1990) contains several traditional poems from earlier collections, as well as more innovative verses not previously published. “Baseball,” included in The Museum of Clear Ideas (1993), is the poet’s ode to the great American pastime and is structured around t
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 195 reviews
December 19, 2020
When one person gets cancer, the whole family gets cancer. It's a long, painful ordeal with different endings for the stricken families, but certain cancers demand it, and endings they'll get.
I just read Without straight through and think Donald Hall's poetic response to poet-wife Jane Kenyon's decline under the killing effects of leukemia is one of the preeminent literary responses to cancer.
Whether you want to read a book of during and after poems about terminal cancer is another matter. Especially during the holidays, which can be peculiarly depressing on their own for some reason. Especially during the pandemic, which is uniquely depressing for families changing traditions in the names of science and safety.
On the other hand, whether you've been through the loss of family or friend due to cancer or not, this book can provide its own strange succor. You read it and feel you're not alone. You read it and realize that the poet speaks for you, in his way. You understand why so many poems are titled as "Letter to..." and are written to Kenyon after her death.
For Hall, writing these poems must have been a life saver. It's not the muse most of us would want to call on, but for writers left behind, the call is assuredly there, and writing is a key part of the long recovery process. In the end, we rest assured that "recovery," as much as can be expected, is exactly what our lost loved one would wish for us, the ones left behind.
I just read Without straight through and think Donald Hall's poetic response to poet-wife Jane Kenyon's decline under the killing effects of leukemia is one of the preeminent literary responses to cancer.
Whether you want to read a book of during and after poems about terminal cancer is another matter. Especially during the holidays, which can be peculiarly depressing on their own for some reason. Especially during the pandemic, which is uniquely depressing for families changing traditions in the names of science and safety.
On the other hand, whether you've been through the loss of family or friend due to cancer or not, this book can provide its own strange succor. You read it and feel you're not alone. You read it and realize that the poet speaks for you, in his way. You understand why so many poems are titled as "Letter to..." and are written to Kenyon after her death.
For Hall, writing these poems must have been a life saver. It's not the muse most of us would want to call on, but for writers left behind, the call is assuredly there, and writing is a key part of the long recovery process. In the end, we rest assured that "recovery," as much as can be expected, is exactly what our lost loved one would wish for us, the ones left behind.
Read
October 2, 2022i must remember always that my heart is home to poetry i MUST!!!! read this collection asap it reminded me that i have to BE so agonizingly and so sweetly. grief really is the price we pay for love. oh donald
August 17, 2015
Mr. Hall tells the story of his wife Jane Kenyon dying of cancer. Heartbreaking shit.
November 3, 2009
"The hour/we lived in, two decades/by the pond, has transformed/into a single unstoppable day,/gray in the dwelling-place/of absence."
"If someone had told us then/you would die in nineteen years,/would it have sounded/like almost enough time?"
"I loved to turn up in your poems/I imagined those you'd make/after I died; I regretted/I wouldn't be able to read them."
A book of poems filled with adoring devotion for his wife. Honest, humble and profoundly pained observations of the process of losing and grieving.
"If someone had told us then/you would die in nineteen years,/would it have sounded/like almost enough time?"
"I loved to turn up in your poems/I imagined those you'd make/after I died; I regretted/I wouldn't be able to read them."
A book of poems filled with adoring devotion for his wife. Honest, humble and profoundly pained observations of the process of losing and grieving.
July 28, 2017
كاتب القصيدة الحدث،القصيدة التي تنبثق منها صور تأملية تبصر العمق الإنساني في كل مكان وليس لشاعر أمريكي فقط. أكثر ما أعجبني هو حواره الطويل مع مجلة ناراتيف
November 17, 2018
مجموعة قصائد جميلة ومباشرة للشاعر الأمريكي دونالد هول.
أغلب القصائد المختارة هنا من أعمال الشاعر بعد أن فُجع في وفاة زوجته جين كنيون، والتي كانت أيضا شاعرة .
ألقصائد النتي أعجبتني أكثر من غيرها
- إقرار Affirmation
- إختباء - والصياد Hiding - Retriever
- جنس آمن Safe sex : وكأن الشاعر يريد أن يقول أن الحب والتعلق بآخر هو سبب العذاب الذي عانى منه، ولذلك فمن الأفضل أن نبقي فقط على علاقات عابرة سطحية حتى نتجنب الألم والعذاب.
خلاف ذلك Otherwise :وهي قصيدة لزوجة الشاعر، ويبدو أنها مكتوبة بعد أن علمت أنها على وشك الرحيل
من دون Without : وهي في رأيي أقوى قصائد المجموعة، ومكتوبة بلغة مضطربة عاصفة غاضبة ساخطة على الحياة والوجود، حيث تختلط عبارات وصف الطبيعة بعبارات الألم والمرض والعلاج، ويختلط وصف حياته السعيدة مع زوجته مع وصف للعواصف والحروب والتدمير والخراب الذي هو المعادل الموضوعي لمرضها الطويل
كتابة دونالد هول في الغالب بسيطة ومباشرة ومفهومة وكأنه يحكي حكاية ويصف مشاهد بالتفصيل، وكان قد بدأ يميل لقصيدة النثر مع تقدمه في العمر.
وجدت بعض القصائد على الإنترنت بلغتها الأصلية
والحوار المترجم بالكتاب أيضا موجود أصله هنا : http://www.narrativemagazine.com/issu...
الترجمة جيدة بصفة عامة فيما عدا بعض المواضع القليلة
أغلب القصائد المختارة هنا من أعمال الشاعر بعد أن فُجع في وفاة زوجته جين كنيون، والتي كانت أيضا شاعرة .
ألقصائد النتي أعجبتني أكثر من غيرها
- إقرار Affirmation
- إختباء - والصياد Hiding - Retriever
- جنس آمن Safe sex : وكأن الشاعر يريد أن يقول أن الحب والتعلق بآخر هو سبب العذاب الذي عانى منه، ولذلك فمن الأفضل أن نبقي فقط على علاقات عابرة سطحية حتى نتجنب الألم والعذاب.
خلاف ذلك Otherwise :وهي قصيدة لزوجة الشاعر، ويبدو أنها مكتوبة بعد أن علمت أنها على وشك الرحيل
من دون Without : وهي في رأيي أقوى قصائد المجموعة، ومكتوبة بلغة مضطربة عاصفة غاضبة ساخطة على الحياة والوجود، حيث تختلط عبارات وصف الطبيعة بعبارات الألم والمرض والعلاج، ويختلط وصف حياته السعيدة مع زوجته مع وصف للعواصف والحروب والتدمير والخراب الذي هو المعادل الموضوعي لمرضها الطويل
كتابة دونالد هول في الغالب بسيطة ومباشرة ومفهومة وكأنه يحكي حكاية ويصف مشاهد بالتفصيل، وكان قد بدأ يميل لقصيدة النثر مع تقدمه في العمر.
وجدت بعض القصائد على الإنترنت بلغتها الأصلية
والحوار المترجم بالكتاب أيضا موجود أصله هنا : http://www.narrativemagazine.com/issu...
الترجمة جيدة بصفة عامة فيما عدا بعض المواضع القليلة
March 2, 2014
This was a library group read and I have to admit when I was first handed it, my teeth were set. "Poetry, really?" inside I said, with a deep groan! But let me say I fell in love with this "little" book and now it is in my Amazon cart to own.
I have no words for this book, so let me just quote two poems that effected me deeply, in no way the deepest but to me a couple of the most tender.
"This morning Gussie
woke me up. I let him out, fed Ada,
took Gus back in again,
and fed him. Then I went to the bathroom
to pee, and saw myself in the mirror. I had forgotten
the bald woman with
leukemia who stared back at me."
***********************************************************************
"He hovered beside Jane's bed,
solicitous; "What can I do?"
It must be unbearable
while she suffered her private hurts
to see his worried face
looming above her,
always anxious to do
something when there was
exactly nothing to do. Inside him,
some four-year-old
understood that if he was good-thoughtful,
considerate,beyond
reproach, perfect-she would not leave him."
I have no words for this book, so let me just quote two poems that effected me deeply, in no way the deepest but to me a couple of the most tender.
"This morning Gussie
woke me up. I let him out, fed Ada,
took Gus back in again,
and fed him. Then I went to the bathroom
to pee, and saw myself in the mirror. I had forgotten
the bald woman with
leukemia who stared back at me."
***********************************************************************
"He hovered beside Jane's bed,
solicitous; "What can I do?"
It must be unbearable
while she suffered her private hurts
to see his worried face
looming above her,
always anxious to do
something when there was
exactly nothing to do. Inside him,
some four-year-old
understood that if he was good-thoughtful,
considerate,beyond
reproach, perfect-she would not leave him."
September 23, 2015
This book totally caught me by surprise. I read it late one night/early one morning without stopping. It was so raw with emotion, yet so dear to heart. I could feel the pain and grief Hall was feeling. I shed tears on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, I was reading a library book. I had to keep stopping myself from picking up a highlighter to mark passages. If you get the opportunity to read it, this book is definitely worth a couple of hours of your time.
May 23, 2010
One of the most touching collections of poems I have ever read. Sweet and funny and sad.
October 27, 2021
Desolador es el adjetivo que viene al leerlo. No sólo merece la pena, es necesario leerlo para entender la pérdida, y si ya la entiendes, para compartir dolor en estos poemas. Es una lectura sencilla, pero llena de un dolor que se encuentra bajo esta sencillez, bajo las palabras que no se dicen, o se enuncian; o luego, en las palabras sinceras que se dicen sobre el dolor, la muerte, el sentimiento de pérdida o la necesidad de comunicarse con el ya fallecido. Es una edición bilingüe maravillosa, un gran trabajo editorial.
May 16, 2022
These poems are good. Read in one sitting.
Donald Hall tells the story of his wife's last year through cancer and the aftermath of loss. Puts into words some of the feelings for when you love someone and they aren't present to you anymore.I am rebuked of my shallow attempts of friendship and devotion and want to grow into further fidelity after reading this.
Donald Hall tells the story of his wife's last year through cancer and the aftermath of loss. Puts into words some of the feelings for when you love someone and they aren't present to you anymore.I am rebuked of my shallow attempts of friendship and devotion and want to grow into further fidelity after reading this.
May 8, 2014
Cut to the Chase:
I don’t read much poetry… but what poetry I do read tends to be by Donald Hall and a handful of others. This is without a doubt my favorite single work by Hall, though it is lean, sparse, and an emotional roller coaster. Scratch that, roller coasters have ups and downs, this is a more of an emotional spiral into all of the edges and dimensions of love, death, and grief at its rawest. It is one of my favorite all time collections.
Greater Detail:
Normally, this is where I would cut and paste from a few different poems… but… this is such a tightly wound, small collection to begin with that I’m not sure it’s really appropriate. You should know that the collection is about and old, dying man, and his wife who is dying of leukemia. There is (or was) a large difference between the two and as she dies, they talk about the irony of what’s become of them — that there was a time when they always denied themselves each other because they worried about what it would be like for her to have to care for him, in his old age, to watch him die while she was still in the prime of her life. The poems here are dripping with grief that is private and all consuming. You feel a bit like a voyeur almost, but also privileged to be allowed a glimpse of such a… true, changing and intense section of someone’s life. It is not light reading, and it is not uplifting (though part of you celebrates the love they had together). But, if you enjoy poetry at all, it is truly, one of the best collections I’ve ever read.
Comparisons to Other Books:
I think that Hall is a great poet, and I think a great place to start would be White Apples and the Taste of Stone, as it gives you a wide range of his work, spanning 60 years (it also has a CD which is wonderful – I attended a reading with Hall once and there’s really nothing quite like hearing poems read by the author himself). Still, Without is by far one of the most moving books I’ve ever read, so if you only had time to read one collection of poems by Hall, I would say this should be it.
I don’t read much poetry… but what poetry I do read tends to be by Donald Hall and a handful of others. This is without a doubt my favorite single work by Hall, though it is lean, sparse, and an emotional roller coaster. Scratch that, roller coasters have ups and downs, this is a more of an emotional spiral into all of the edges and dimensions of love, death, and grief at its rawest. It is one of my favorite all time collections.
Greater Detail:
Normally, this is where I would cut and paste from a few different poems… but… this is such a tightly wound, small collection to begin with that I’m not sure it’s really appropriate. You should know that the collection is about and old, dying man, and his wife who is dying of leukemia. There is (or was) a large difference between the two and as she dies, they talk about the irony of what’s become of them — that there was a time when they always denied themselves each other because they worried about what it would be like for her to have to care for him, in his old age, to watch him die while she was still in the prime of her life. The poems here are dripping with grief that is private and all consuming. You feel a bit like a voyeur almost, but also privileged to be allowed a glimpse of such a… true, changing and intense section of someone’s life. It is not light reading, and it is not uplifting (though part of you celebrates the love they had together). But, if you enjoy poetry at all, it is truly, one of the best collections I’ve ever read.
Comparisons to Other Books:
I think that Hall is a great poet, and I think a great place to start would be White Apples and the Taste of Stone, as it gives you a wide range of his work, spanning 60 years (it also has a CD which is wonderful – I attended a reading with Hall once and there’s really nothing quite like hearing poems read by the author himself). Still, Without is by far one of the most moving books I’ve ever read, so if you only had time to read one collection of poems by Hall, I would say this should be it.
February 22, 2017
A moving elegy in poems by Donald Hall for Jane Kenyon, his beloved wife and fellow poet, who fought valiantly with leukemia. These poems grapple with and then embrace his loss, before and after her passing. What a marriage this must have been, to her last word ("O.K.", about his putting her letters in the box); and her last kiss:
"At eight that night,
her eyes open as they stayed
until she died, brain-stem breathing
started, he bent to kiss
her pale cool lips again, and felt them
one last time gather
and purse and peck to kiss him back."
"At eight that night,
her eyes open as they stayed
until she died, brain-stem breathing
started, he bent to kiss
her pale cool lips again, and felt them
one last time gather
and purse and peck to kiss him back."
October 7, 2016
I have followed the career of both Jane Kenyon and Donald Hall for decades and enjoyed their thoughtful and often inspiring work very much. I was devastated as any fan when Kenyon died. This book of poetry is a raw and honest portrayal of living, dying, and grief. I am keeping this book to return to when I need it.
What a beautiful tribute to their love and relationship! I highly recommend this. I'm not a huge fan of poetry, but this is so easy to relate to.
What a beautiful tribute to their love and relationship! I highly recommend this. I'm not a huge fan of poetry, but this is so easy to relate to.
December 5, 2007
Without is an affecting book, one of the few books of poetry that I have read through at a sitting. It is not pleasant reading, I don’t know whether it is always poetry, but it is always an honest look into the heart of grief, and as such a comfort in a way to those of us who see our own grief coming.
November 28, 2011
I read this first for an Intermediate Poetry class as an undergrad accompanied by Jane Kenyon's Otherwise. I don't think I could quite appreciate it as I do now, on the other side of loss. I am immersing myself in these volumes of poetry now that I have my own collection of loss-poetry as I try to figure out how my own manuscript will fall into place.
December 12, 2014
دونالد هول: الذي بقي لستة وخمسين عاما يكتب يوميا. والذي يقرأ الشعر لمتعة فمّية، إذ يشعر بأن قلبه ليس إلى في فمه، يقول في قصيدة معنونة بـ "اللمسة": أشهرٌ من الغياب تمضي
في النوم ألامس جلدها
وأستيقظ في الفجر المتعب، حانقا
لأجد مرةً أخرى
أنها وسادتها
وقد حاكت لمسة امرأة ميتة.*
في النوم ألامس جلدها
وأستيقظ في الفجر المتعب، حانقا
لأجد مرةً أخرى
أنها وسادتها
وقد حاكت لمسة امرأة ميتة.*
November 19, 2010
Have I read this at least twenty times? Yes. Am I still a weeping mess after every read? Yes. Does Donald Hall know what he's doing? Yes.
November 11, 2022
Really touching. What a beautiful love.
November 29, 2022
A heart-wrenching, funny, and tragic volume of poems. Commemorative and celebratory, too. Will read again.
January 30, 2019
This is the most depressing book I've ever read, and I don't say that lightly. It is painful and raw from start to finish. Donald Hall wrote this volume of poems to chronicle his wife's illness and death, and no matter how sad you think that might be, go ahead and double it, because he doesn't shy away from any aspect of death's reality or the feelings it evokes. I feel like I lost someone myself, now. As much as I respect that kind of emotional honesty and willingness to forge into territory most people would shy away from, it also made me uncomfortable--which it should, but there are ways to be made uncomfortable that encourage growth and reflection, and then there are ways to be made uncomfortable that leave you curled in a ball in the dark longing for a sunny day and some fuzzy kittens. As someone who gravitates toward dark, unforgiving literature, if I think something is too depressing for me, then good luck.
Also, though I cringe a little to say it, and while there were some excellent poems in there, some of them veered a little too much toward stream-of-consciousness prose for my taste.
Also, though I cringe a little to say it, and while there were some excellent poems in there, some of them veered a little too much toward stream-of-consciousness prose for my taste.
July 17, 2019
Mostly average poetry but with a lot of imagistic highlights.
Not just for the grieving, as I'm tail-ending, love and death generally.
I had thought the titular, rushing hurricane of a poem, in the place immediately after or as Jane's death, was untitled, used to seeing the titles of books at the tops of pages, satisfying my experimental structuralist urge.
Not just for the grieving, as I'm tail-ending, love and death generally.
I had thought the titular, rushing hurricane of a poem, in the place immediately after or as Jane's death, was untitled, used to seeing the titles of books at the tops of pages, satisfying my experimental structuralist urge.
December 10, 2020
Somehow I missed this collection of Donald Hall’s poems, written in the year after his wife and fellow poet, Jane Kenyon, died. I have been missing a friend who died suddenly and expectedly last summer, feeling his loss as a pain in my solar plexus, and read this collection as a way to think about the world without him in it. Hall writes so perceptively about the moments of grief that assault him, and addresses his poems to Jane in a way that makes perfect sense. As long as he is in the world, so is she. As long as I am in the world, so is Mike.
April 26, 2018
Quite possibly the saddest, truest poetry book I've ever read and I loved it.
November 18, 2020
This was vivid, poignant and emotional. The poems were beautiful. Excited to read more of his work.
September 22, 2023
Listen I had to read this for my class… and it was actually real good. I balled like a baby through most of it though
December 4, 2024
a powerful ode to loss- the title poem is beyond words
Read
August 21, 2018Devastating, tender and gorgeous, unflinching and flinching.
July 30, 2022
Jane Kenyon, a talented poet, is married to her poetry teacher, Donald Hall, a man 20 years her senior. They worry when they get married that she’s going to have to suffer a long widowhood given their age gap, but decide to go ahead with it anyway. After twenty years of marital joy and togetherness, Donald is diagnosed with liver cancer and Jane fears this is the end. With a 30% chance of survival, Donald makes it through, only to see Jane diagnosed with leukaemia the next year. She dies within fifteen months, at the age of 47, leaving Donald to survive for two more decades alone with the grief of losing her. “Without” is a heart rending, poignant collection of poems, describing Donald’s experience during and after Jane’s death. Anyone who has lost a loved one to cancer will be moved deeply, going through the tenderness and horror expressed in the book. Difficult yet strangely palliative.
It is fitting that this book is included in recommended reading for medical school students in some universities. Understanding the sorrow of the dying and the horror of the loved ones that watch the patient slowly die, cannot be intuitive.
It is fitting that this book is included in recommended reading for medical school students in some universities. Understanding the sorrow of the dying and the horror of the loved ones that watch the patient slowly die, cannot be intuitive.
May 4, 2017
As would be expected, Without is a heavy affair. It is also honest and sometimes, hard to bear. Hall's pain and grief sustains the 81 pages without veering off into too much sentimentality. It would be difficult to read this book and not feel everything he felt.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 195 reviews