Essays After Eighty - Paperback

by Donald Hall (Author)

The former US Poet Laureate contemplates life, death, and the view from his window in these "alternately lyrical and laugh-out-loud funny" essays (New York Times).

His entire life, Donald Hall dedicated himself to the written word, putting together a storied career as a poet, essayist, and memoirist. Here, in the "unknown, unanticipated galaxy" of very old age, his essays startle, move, and delight.

In Essays After Eighty, Hall ruminates on his past: "thirty was terrifying, forty I never noticed because I was drunk, fifty was best with a total change of life, sixty extended the bliss of fifty . . ." He also addresses his present: "When I turned eighty and rubbed testosterone on my chest, my beard roared like a lion and gained four inches."

Most memorably, Hall writes about his enduring love affair with his ancestral Eagle Pond Farm and with the writing life that sustains him every day: "Yesterday my first nap was at 9:30 a.m., but when I awoke I wrote again."

"Alluring, inspirational hominess . . . Essays After Eighty is a treasure . . . balancing frankness about losses with humor and gratitude."--Washington Post

"A fine book of remembering all sorts of things past, Essays After Eighty is to be treasured."--Boston Globe

Back Jacket

Deliciously readable . . . Donald Hall, if abandoned by the muse of poetry, has wrought his prose to a keen autumnal edge. Wall Street Journal

His entire life, Donald Hall has dedicated himself to the written word, putting together a storied career as a poet, essayist, and memoirist. Now, in the unknown, unanticipated galaxy of very old age, he is writing essays that startle, move, and delight. In Essays After Eighty, Hall ruminates on his past: thirty was terrifying, forty I never noticed because I was drunk, fifty was best with a total change of life, sixty extended the bliss of fifty . . . He also addresses his present: When I turned eighty and rubbed testosterone on my chest, my beard roared like a lion and gained four inches. Most memorably, Hall writes about his enduring love affair with his ancestral Eagle Pond Farm and with the writing life that sustains him every day: Yesterday my first nap was at 9:30 a.m., but when I awoke I wrote again.

Alluring, inspirational hominess . . . Essays After Eighty is a treasure . . . balancing frankness about losses with humor and gratitude. Washington Post

A fine book of remembering all sorts of things past, Essays After Eighty is to be treasured. Boston Globe

DONALD HALL, who served as poet laureate of the United States from 2006 to 2007, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a recipient of the National Medal of Arts.
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Author Biography

DONALD HALL, who served as poet laureate of the United States from 2006 to 2007, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a recipient of the National Medal of the Arts, awarded by the president.