White Apples And The Taste Of Stone: Selected Poems 1946-2006

for anyone brushed ever so slightly by poetry here in the united states, it's impossible to not have heard the name of robert frost. and it is as nearly impossible to read poems by donald hall without being reminded of the poems of robert frost. more savvy readers of poetry, for whom modernism and schools like imagism and futurism, were of the moment, brushed aside frost's rural americana as hokey and not hip, as compared to pound, eliot, cummings and w c williams. frost was not without his champions, auden admired him, and citing auden, joseph brodsky, a pretty hip poet himself, showed us the dark gravitas in frost's work, comparing him with dante, in the article brodsky wrote for a 1994 new yorker issue, entitled On Grief and Reason.a rereading of auden, and a first reading for readers who have not yet explored auden's somber city poems, shows the late influences of frost on auden, and the poetic affinities, the kinship, of auden and frost to donald hall.like frost, hall is a rural poet, a poet of place, of settled home, described repeatedly in exquisite detail, and in narratives as well ordered as the finest prose, stories of his neighbors and rural events. donald hall writes everyday, and he writes of everyday events, of events close at hand. through the years, his volumes encapsulate his ongoing autobiography. as a writer, he spares himself nothing, telling us everything, at his funniest and, entering dante's dark wood, his guide seeming to be frost, as virgil lead dante, there is hall's love interest, his wife, the poet jane kenyon, through her diagnosis of cancer, her treatment, her deathbed, and hall's grieving, poem after poem, heart wrenching poems, nearly unbearableto read.a lifelong fan of the game, hall writes of baseball, creating for a series of poems his own stanza form, nine by nine by nine, mirroring the form of the game.in homage to his precursors, he devises a modern version of the horatian odes. in his later poems in the book, he includes a witty variation on horace's 15th ode in book 3, where, chloris, the former day cougar, is remonstrated by the poet for chasing young men, is turned around by our poet, donald hall, and the curprit admonished by him is chloris's husband, ibycus, for chasing young women at a late age. the poem Olives, prior to the After Horace poem in this collection, describes a similar situation in a contemporary setting, which is hilarious.years ago i gave a friend a copy of White Apples and the Taste of Stone as a birthday gift. when she finished reading the book, she so wanted me to read it, she offered the book back to me as a gift, which i refused. now that i've purchased a copy for myself, i understand her gesture; however pleased i am we have our own copies.donald hall is the consummate poet of our time, and, for now, i don't know of a better, finer, book of poetry than his Selected Poems 1946 -2006.

I've never been much for modern poetry. Gave this a try and often like the author's works, though it would be nice to read 2 poems in a row not about, in part at least, writer's block, the creative process, the importance of poetry, etcetera. Apparently his wife was a famous poet. I've read a few of hers and found them unspeakably terrible. Also horrifying beyond belief are all of the later poems I've tried in here, including, sadly, some rambly ones ostensibly about baseball (and writer's block). He writes short stories often, with good characters, and bare emotion, all done with economy of expression and so forth- those are perhaps his best. Hey, nobody has all good poems. Anyone who tried to would have no poems at all. I'd say it is worth a try, though the only guarantee I offer is that you will get a little nostalgic for farm life and seasons, harvesting, canning, forests, and the like.

Word for word no poet does it better. His words, respect and nuance for place, images, accessibility. A beautiful collection. I had to take breaks between the later poems as they are hauntingly beautiful and sad. Each would spin around in my mind, having a life of its own. But I always went back for more. These later poems deal with loss. However, as I read them I kept thinking, as sad as they are ... the love he feels and is able to capture in just a few words. He writes beautifully about home, family, friends, nature, love, loss and getting older. PULITZER PRIZE LONG, LONG OVERDUE!If you are lucky you might find a copy with the CD of Hall reading the collection.It's on my bucket list to see this great poet read live.

An exellent of Hall’s poems

I feel somewhat embarrassed to say that Donald Hall was not a poet I was familiar with until just recently. And what a great thing I have been missing. I realized that Donald Hall was in a very old anthology I have from 1963 called "The Modern Poets." There is a jaunty photo of him smoking a cigar. The Bio does not mention his wife Jane Kenyon.What a powerful effect these poems had on me. The come alive in a way I cannot accurately describe. They bring me closer to things I seem to remember, and with simplicity and depth, deliver the earth to my feet. Don't take my word for it. Take a look into this world for yourself.

Exactly as advertised: in the same condition a book just released by a publisher = As/like new. Perfect condition, with CD in unopened case. Hall's poetry is beautiful and accessible: hearty, rich, physical, alive. Package protected by bubble wrap and waterproof envelope. Great private seller.

Donald Hall is one of the great American poets of our time. Pellucid, beautiful and profound. Ignore the comparisons to Robert Frost. Yes, they both live / lived in New England. But Hall writes brilliantly about love, sex and death, and the repercussions of all three.

Donald Hall is an unusually prolific poet, and this selection is large, Not all of it is good, but the really fine poems are as good as it gets. This book makes a strong case for his status as a major poet.

Habe das Buch innerhalb eines Seminars meiner Uni bearbeitet und bin gefangen von Hall's Gedichten. Um sie zu verstehen sollte man seine Geschichte kennen und sich auch mit seiner Frau Jane Kenyon und ihren Gedichten befassen.Es ist eine Sammlung all seiner besten/liebsten/bekanntesten Gedichte, die er auf der beiliegenden CD teils auch selbst vorliest.Wunderschön, witzig und lesens- und liebenswert, selbst wenn man mit Gedichten "eigentlich nichts so am Hut hat".