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Old And New Poems: Donald Hall's Finest Short Poetry on Landscape, Love, and Prophecy
This volume contains the finest short poetry Donald Hall has written, poems of landscape and love, of dedication and prophecy, poems that have won thousands of readers, as well as various prizes and honors.
- GenresPoetry20th Century
244 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
8 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Donald Hall
181 books201 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
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 12, 2010
Images of Memory and Life
By NICOLAS SNODGRASS
October 12, 2010
“I read poems for the pleasure of the mouth. My heart is in my mouth, and the sound of poetry is the way in.” From this quote, it’s obvious why Donald Hall loves poetry. He loves it for the joy it brings to his heart, and what is closest to his heart, is the experience, beauty, and wonder, of life. He seeks to share that pleasure with everyone, and his book Old and New Poems is a captivating compilation of the down-to-earth poems he wrote from 1947 to 1990. The book starts with his oldest poems and progresses to his newest. It’s a journey that resembles an autobiography, the journey and growth of a poet. One of the leading poets in the United States, Hall served as the Library of Congress’ fourteenth Poet Laureate Consultant of Poetry from 2006 to 2007. He is now eighty-two years old, and he continues to compose captivating poems that paint pictures of everyday life upon his readers’ minds. His poetry is not written to appeal to the pride of the intellectual. It is a living portrait of life that men and women of all ages, and levels of intellect, can connect to.
During his childhood Donald Hall spent a lot of time on his grandfather’s homestead, Eagle Pond Farm in New Hampshire, where he currently lives, writing poetry in the room he slept in as a child. Much of his poetry is written in reflection of rural life at Eagle Pond Farm. His poetry in Old and New Poems mainly covers themes of nature, death, and life. His fascination for scenes of everyday life and nature on a farm is clearly communicated through his poems. For example, he writes poems about scenic views of land, cows, horses, baseball, rocking chairs, and his love for “dear dense cheeses.” Many of his poems cover themes that branch out from life and death, such as aging, fear, and the passing of time. In White Apples he focuses on his father’s death, and describing the fear he felt when he thought he heard his dead fathers voice calling him at the front door during the night. In contrasting themes of life and death, in his poem My Son My Executioner he views the life of his newborn son as a revelation to his own age and immortality.
Hall’s journey certainly demonstrates a unique growth due to the fact that his later poems are widely considered to be even better than his earlier ones. The first poems in the book stick to a more classical style, while his newer ones use a variety of styles, show-casing his versatility as a poet. Although it is hard to categorize Hall into a genre of poetry, it wouldn’t be untrue to say that the majority of his poetry in this book strongly resembles that of an imagist. However, his flexibility with learning new styles demands respect. It isn’t any wonder that he is considered to be the greatest living poet. As for the integrity of that belief, Hall claims, “the pleasure we feel, reading a poem, is our assurance of its integrity.” And Old and New Poems is indeed a pleasurable read.
By NICOLAS SNODGRASS
October 12, 2010
“I read poems for the pleasure of the mouth. My heart is in my mouth, and the sound of poetry is the way in.” From this quote, it’s obvious why Donald Hall loves poetry. He loves it for the joy it brings to his heart, and what is closest to his heart, is the experience, beauty, and wonder, of life. He seeks to share that pleasure with everyone, and his book Old and New Poems is a captivating compilation of the down-to-earth poems he wrote from 1947 to 1990. The book starts with his oldest poems and progresses to his newest. It’s a journey that resembles an autobiography, the journey and growth of a poet. One of the leading poets in the United States, Hall served as the Library of Congress’ fourteenth Poet Laureate Consultant of Poetry from 2006 to 2007. He is now eighty-two years old, and he continues to compose captivating poems that paint pictures of everyday life upon his readers’ minds. His poetry is not written to appeal to the pride of the intellectual. It is a living portrait of life that men and women of all ages, and levels of intellect, can connect to.
During his childhood Donald Hall spent a lot of time on his grandfather’s homestead, Eagle Pond Farm in New Hampshire, where he currently lives, writing poetry in the room he slept in as a child. Much of his poetry is written in reflection of rural life at Eagle Pond Farm. His poetry in Old and New Poems mainly covers themes of nature, death, and life. His fascination for scenes of everyday life and nature on a farm is clearly communicated through his poems. For example, he writes poems about scenic views of land, cows, horses, baseball, rocking chairs, and his love for “dear dense cheeses.” Many of his poems cover themes that branch out from life and death, such as aging, fear, and the passing of time. In White Apples he focuses on his father’s death, and describing the fear he felt when he thought he heard his dead fathers voice calling him at the front door during the night. In contrasting themes of life and death, in his poem My Son My Executioner he views the life of his newborn son as a revelation to his own age and immortality.
Hall’s journey certainly demonstrates a unique growth due to the fact that his later poems are widely considered to be even better than his earlier ones. The first poems in the book stick to a more classical style, while his newer ones use a variety of styles, show-casing his versatility as a poet. Although it is hard to categorize Hall into a genre of poetry, it wouldn’t be untrue to say that the majority of his poetry in this book strongly resembles that of an imagist. However, his flexibility with learning new styles demands respect. It isn’t any wonder that he is considered to be the greatest living poet. As for the integrity of that belief, Hall claims, “the pleasure we feel, reading a poem, is our assurance of its integrity.” And Old and New Poems is indeed a pleasurable read.
July 12, 2018
Published in 1990, this collection of poems by Donald Hall, chosen by him and organized into brief periods, beginning in 1947 and ending in 1990. In notes at the end, Hall explains that he has edited some of the poems from their original wording, like it or not. I like it; after all, shouldn't poets have poetic license? Sometimes I have to work too hard to understand his earliest poems, and I am drawn more to what he has written since the 1980's.
July 6, 2018
This is the first book of poetry I've ever read. It was great!
Want to read
July 13, 2022“Turkey Salad Amaryllis.”
Want to read
May 29, 2025Cutting is for Carlotta’s Confession
By Donald Hall
By Donald Hall
February 2, 2012
Some think of Donald Hall as a good poet writing pastoral beauty about his rural life in the New Hampshire hills, solidly in the tradition of Thoreau. Certainly there is much here for those readers. However, there is also work here that will surprise those readers. Consider this gem, not at all from that mold:
NO COLOR MAN
Donald Hall
I lived no-color. In a grey room I talked
clipped whispers
with a woman who faded while I looked at her.
Our voices were oyster-white, my monsters
as pale as puffballs of dust. Leaves of my trees
turned dingy. I mowed pale grass.
Friends parked station wagons like huge dead mice
by my house that was nearly invisible.
Dollar bills lost color
when I kept them in my wallet.
I dreamed of mountains grey like oceans
with no house lights on them,
only coffins that walked and talked
and buried each other continually in grey sand.
__________________
If you have only read a small amount of Hall's work, I recommend you pick up this book. It moves through selections by time period. Doubtless, there are things here you won't expect, and that will cause you to pause and reflect in a wonderful way.
NO COLOR MAN
Donald Hall
I lived no-color. In a grey room I talked
clipped whispers
with a woman who faded while I looked at her.
Our voices were oyster-white, my monsters
as pale as puffballs of dust. Leaves of my trees
turned dingy. I mowed pale grass.
Friends parked station wagons like huge dead mice
by my house that was nearly invisible.
Dollar bills lost color
when I kept them in my wallet.
I dreamed of mountains grey like oceans
with no house lights on them,
only coffins that walked and talked
and buried each other continually in grey sand.
__________________
If you have only read a small amount of Hall's work, I recommend you pick up this book. It moves through selections by time period. Doubtless, there are things here you won't expect, and that will cause you to pause and reflect in a wonderful way.
July 16, 2007
The first time I had ever heard of Donald Hall was when he visited my high school to do a poetry reading. It was one of the best things I have ever been required to do. He had just lost his wife, Jane, a suberb poet herself, and along with reading a selection of his own poems, he read some of his favorites by Jane as well. It was a moving reading.
I am not a fan of poetry. I have always had a hard time understanding the allure. However, that reading made me a Donald Hall fan for life. He is my only favorite poet. His poems tell stories of New England, of every day things, of being a kid riding in the back seat of a car. They appeal to everyone because in telling his story he tells all of our stories as well.
I am not a fan of poetry. I have always had a hard time understanding the allure. However, that reading made me a Donald Hall fan for life. He is my only favorite poet. His poems tell stories of New England, of every day things, of being a kid riding in the back seat of a car. They appeal to everyone because in telling his story he tells all of our stories as well.
November 28, 2019
This seemed like a good introduction to Hall's poetry and what he likes to write about, how he formats his poems, and what he seeks to convey through poetry, all unique aspects of a poet that I believe readers should come to know well whenever they come to a collection of a respected poet like Hall. I love that he sets so many of them in the rural confines of New Hampshire, the imagery comforting and welcoming to someone who grew up in a rural community, and I look forward to diving into the many other collections of Hall and seeing how his poetry changed over the years.
February 4, 2008
Donald Hall writes classically and in form for much of this book, as it is sort of a documentation of his poetic history. While I am not much for form or for poems written to exist entirely within themselves, without their outside social and historic and personal contexts, Hall does a wonderful job of manipulating language and emotions with wit and coy to express very layered meanings and tensions within a rigid poetic contruct.
July 1, 2017
Although Donald Hall's first volume of poetry was published in 1955, I think he found his mature voice as a poet in the mid-1970s, with marvelous poems such as Maple Syrup, Kicking the Leaves, Eating the Pig, and Wolf Knife. Donald Hall is the 14th U.S. Poet Laureate. His wife is the late poet Jane Kenyon.
July 12, 2008
Really liked some of the poems in this collection.
June 17, 2012
Donald Hall is one of my favorite all-time contemporary poets. I love his use of words and imagery and his poems have inspired some of my own!
September 23, 2018
“I number out the virtues that are dead, / Remembering the soft consistent voice / And bone that showed in each deliberate word.”
April 7, 2017
Really starts to pick up with the work written in the mid-70s. I'm excited to read more of his work from the 90s and later, especially to see how the death of his wife, fellow poet Jane Kenyon, affects his poetry. It seems to me like their falling in love coincides with him really finding his voice.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews