by Donald Hall - undifferentiated
First published 2014
Donald Hall enters his eighties with sharp wit and surprising candor. The former Poet Laureate examines his long life through unexpected lenses, from decades of chain smoking unfiltered cigarettes to the physical realities of extreme old age. He traces his journey through different decades, recalling how thirty terrified him, forty passed in a drunken blur, and fifty brought transformative joy. Now, in what he calls the "unknown, unanticipated galaxy" of very old age, Hall discovers both absurdity and wonder. He applies testosterone to his chest and watches his beard grow four inches like a roaring lion. Between morning naps that start at 9:30, he continues writing at his beloved Eagle Pond Farm. Hall's essays move between transgressive humor and poignant observation, capturing both the horror and hilarity of aging. His writing life remains his anchor, sustaining him daily as he navigates this final territory with the same literary precision that earned him the National Medal of the Arts.
Genres: essays, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-reflection
Setting: Eagle Pond Farm
Period: Eighties
134 pages · Hardcover · Houghton Mifflin Harcourt