Hall, Donald (Donald Andrew Hall, Jr.), 1928–2018, American poet, b. New Haven, Conn., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1951), Oxford (1953). He published more than 50 books, ranging from poetry, short stories, plays, and children's books to memoirs, essays, textbooks, and biographies. As a poet, his themes usually involved his beloved bucolic New England past and present, aging and mortality, nature, and baseball; all described in direct, plain-spoken language. His poetry collections include Exiles and Marriages (1955), The Happy Man (1986), The One Day (1989, National Book Critics Circle Award), and The Selected Poems of Donald Hall (2015). Hall was married (1972–95) to the poet Jane Kenyon, whose untimely death inspired Without (1998) and The Painted Bed (2002) as well as a memoir (2005). Other memoirs include Life Work (2003) and Unpacking the Boxes: A Memoir of a Life in Poetry (2009). Among his children's books is The Ox-Cart Man (1979, Caldecott Medal). Hall was U.S. poet laureate (2006–7) and received (2011) the National Medal of Arts.
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