In 1952, I recited aloud for the first time, booming in Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre from a bad poem that had won a prize. I was twenty-three. Donald Hall aloudbadboom Change image and share on social
There are books all around me... I don't read as much as I used to, but I always have a book or two going. Donald Hall bookread Change image and share on social
Each season, my balance gets worse, and sometimes I fall. I no longer cook for myself but microwave widower food, mostly Stouffer's. My fingers are clumsy and slow with buttons. Donald Hall badlybalancebutton Change image and share on social
I was at Harvard with a whole bunch of poets, and that was very rare. They published a lot of books because there was an excitement after the war that translated into poetry. Donald Hall bookbunchexcitement Change image and share on social
I have to do draft after draft... It takes me a long time, but I love doing it, and I have to do it every day, or I feel slack. Donald Hall daydraftfeel Change image and share on social
I don't publish anything I haven't worked over 100 times. Donald Hall publishtimework Change image and share on social
I have seen so many poets who were famous, who won all sorts of prizes, disappear with their death. I write as good as I can and don't try to turn that into some hope for a future that I could never know. Donald Hall deathdisappearfamous share on social
Prose is not so dependent on sound. The line of poetry, with the breaking of the line - to me, sound is the kind of doorway into poetry. And my sense of sound, or my ability to control it, lapsed or grew less. Donald Hall abilitybreakcontrol share on social
One Oxford poet confessed to me that I had been scary because I talked American and wore tennis shoes. Donald Hall americanconfessoxford Change image and share on social
It used to be that phrases and lines would come into my head, often many of them in a period of five days or a week, and maybe I didn't know what I was talking about, but the words had a kind of heaviness or deliciousness to them. Donald Hall daydeliciousnesshead share on social
