First, I fell in love. Then, the honeymoon was over, and I started to take the book out of my Amazon cart. Still, I read on. Now, the book stays in the cart, waiting.
I picked up this book from the library (although photo credit here goes to iBooks or Google or Amazon or the publisher) because a friend had read some Donald Hall poems at a gathering. It turns out Hall just died in July 10 of this year so, in my case, I fulfilled a statement he makes in his essays about a poet becoming popular after he dies! This is not a book of his poems. In fact, he doesn't even include one of his poems. After eighty years, he feels the poetic muse has left him and he turns to prose...superb prose...well earned superb prose as he revises often over thirty times! Clearly Hall was willing to put in the time to become a master of his art. His art and skill at writing alone tempts me to buy the book.
I went looking for a book of his poetry and came home with White Apples and the Taste of Stone (selected poems 1946-2006), Anecdotes of Modern Art (written with Pat Corrington Wykes), and this book Essays After Eighty. Before he died, he finished A Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety which also sits in my shopping cart.
I fell in love with the first essay "Out the Window" as he describes the view out his window and his mom turning ninety as she looked out that same window, living in the same house for almost sixty years (a nice counterpoint to my last book review of Miller's Valley and musings on moving on). Still, in this chapter the years that lie ahead of the reader might look a bit foreboding based on Hall's descriptions. (Believe me, if I did not use the lie/lay correctly here, I did try to discern the proper usage!)
As I moved into the second essay on writing "Essays After Eighty," I thought surely I needed this book if only to learn how to avoid beginning "paragraphs with 'I'" (14) Not to mention avoiding a lot of other problems in writing already demonstrated in this post!
In "Yeti in the District" and other essays, Hall takes negative situations and brings in his sense of humor. Yet, as I read on, Hall has an edge of cynicism, perhaps, some would say "understandably so" as he survived a wife and an ex-wife who both died of cancer.
Sometimes timing even in reading matters. I have read a number of books lately that have involved such deep thinking that I am ready for some belly laughs. There are some gentle laughs in Hall's essays, some name droppings that are so subtle that it takes one a moment to realize he just dropped a lot of famous names, and a lot of memoir from an old poet who writes extremely well. My guess is that he did not intend for the book to be about teaching anyone else how to age well.
My (there's that personal pronoun again) favorite quote: "Yesterday my first nap was at 9:30 am, but when I awoke I wrote again." I'd have to say Publisher's Weekly's blurb for the book describes Hall's work well: "Laconic, witty, and lyrical, Hall is a master stylist, yet he remains refreshingly humble and matter-of-fact about fame (his and others)...By exploring the joys and vicissitudes of a long life, [Essays After Eighty] offers revealing insights into the human condition -- and the grit and openness it requires" (from the front flap of the cover).
💕💕💕💕💕 Getting to know older adults is important for children. Older people have stories to tell and too often I hear at memorials or when it is no longer possible to hear their stories, "Oh, how I wished I had listened or asked questions when he or she was able to tell me all about life back then." Our family did a fair job of our children knowing older people. Not the best, not the worst.
---------------- Here I am now one of those people wishing I had paid more attention to the stories of my elders, so I read books like Essays After Eighty. As for spiritual practices, there are people around me who are older than I am that I can still get to know, can still practice being attentive to. Journaling makes for a beneficial practice as well. Not everything needs to be saved for those who come behind us but both types of journaling -- for one's own eyes only and for others to read -- can be a blessing.
I picked up this book from the library (although photo credit here goes to iBooks or Google or Amazon or the publisher) because a friend had read some Donald Hall poems at a gathering. It turns out Hall just died in July 10 of this year so, in my case, I fulfilled a statement he makes in his essays about a poet becoming popular after he dies! This is not a book of his poems. In fact, he doesn't even include one of his poems. After eighty years, he feels the poetic muse has left him and he turns to prose...superb prose...well earned superb prose as he revises often over thirty times! Clearly Hall was willing to put in the time to become a master of his art. His art and skill at writing alone tempts me to buy the book.
I went looking for a book of his poetry and came home with White Apples and the Taste of Stone (selected poems 1946-2006), Anecdotes of Modern Art (written with Pat Corrington Wykes), and this book Essays After Eighty. Before he died, he finished A Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety which also sits in my shopping cart.
I fell in love with the first essay "Out the Window" as he describes the view out his window and his mom turning ninety as she looked out that same window, living in the same house for almost sixty years (a nice counterpoint to my last book review of Miller's Valley and musings on moving on). Still, in this chapter the years that lie ahead of the reader might look a bit foreboding based on Hall's descriptions. (Believe me, if I did not use the lie/lay correctly here, I did try to discern the proper usage!)
As I moved into the second essay on writing "Essays After Eighty," I thought surely I needed this book if only to learn how to avoid beginning "paragraphs with 'I'" (14) Not to mention avoiding a lot of other problems in writing already demonstrated in this post!
In "Yeti in the District" and other essays, Hall takes negative situations and brings in his sense of humor. Yet, as I read on, Hall has an edge of cynicism, perhaps, some would say "understandably so" as he survived a wife and an ex-wife who both died of cancer.
Sometimes timing even in reading matters. I have read a number of books lately that have involved such deep thinking that I am ready for some belly laughs. There are some gentle laughs in Hall's essays, some name droppings that are so subtle that it takes one a moment to realize he just dropped a lot of famous names, and a lot of memoir from an old poet who writes extremely well. My guess is that he did not intend for the book to be about teaching anyone else how to age well.
My (there's that personal pronoun again) favorite quote: "Yesterday my first nap was at 9:30 am, but when I awoke I wrote again." I'd have to say Publisher's Weekly's blurb for the book describes Hall's work well: "Laconic, witty, and lyrical, Hall is a master stylist, yet he remains refreshingly humble and matter-of-fact about fame (his and others)...By exploring the joys and vicissitudes of a long life, [Essays After Eighty] offers revealing insights into the human condition -- and the grit and openness it requires" (from the front flap of the cover).
💕💕💕💕💕 Getting to know older adults is important for children. Older people have stories to tell and too often I hear at memorials or when it is no longer possible to hear their stories, "Oh, how I wished I had listened or asked questions when he or she was able to tell me all about life back then." Our family did a fair job of our children knowing older people. Not the best, not the worst.
---------------- Here I am now one of those people wishing I had paid more attention to the stories of my elders, so I read books like Essays After Eighty. As for spiritual practices, there are people around me who are older than I am that I can still get to know, can still practice being attentive to. Journaling makes for a beneficial practice as well. Not everything needs to be saved for those who come behind us but both types of journaling -- for one's own eyes only and for others to read -- can be a blessing.
1 comment:
Thank you!
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