It’s the birthday of poet, memoirist, and essayist Donald Hall (1928-2018), U.S. poet laureate from 2006-2007 and one of the most important poets of his generation. He’s best known as a rural poet who focused on the natural world and used simple language that nonetheless often had a surrealistic effect.

Hall was born and raised in Hamden, Connecticut, but spent a lot of time at his great-grandfather’s farm in New Hampshire, called Eagle Pond Farm. Hall’s father, a volatile man, was very unhappy in his work at a dairy and encouraged Hall to do what he wanted, so at 16 Hall attended the famous Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in Vermont and met Robert Frost; he published his first poem that year. After studying at Philips Exeter Academy, he went on to Harvard with the likes of Robert Bly, Adrienne Rich, and Frank O’Hara. After Harvard, Hall studied at the University of Oxford, because *just* a Harvard degree is kind of embarrassing, and after that got a Stegner Fellowship from Stanford.

Hall’s first collection of poetry was published in 1955, Exiles and Marriages; by then, he was already poetry editor for The Paris Review. In 1957 he started teaching at the University of Michigan, in 1969 he and his first wife (with whom he had two children) divorced, in 1972 he married the poet Jane Kenyon, and in 1975 he and Kenyon bought Eagle Pond Farm and moved there to write full-time and garden in idyllic bliss; his collections Kicking the Leaves (1978) and The Happy Man (1986) focused on the farm and his happiness at being there.

In 1989, Hall was found to have colon cancer, which spread to his liver; he was not expected to live long but eventually went into a long remission. Kenyon, however, was diagnosed with leukemia in 1994 and died just over a year later. Hall’s collections Without: Poems (1998) and The Painted Bed (2002) are focused on Hall’s grief over his wife’s decline and death.

Among Hall’s other books (the man was prolific so this is a very partial list) were the poetry collection The One Day (1988; National Book Critics Circle Award); the children’s book, The Ox-cart Man (1979; Caldecott Medal); and The Best Day the Worst Day: Life with Jane Kenyon (2005).

Hall died at 89 just three months ago. If you scroll down in this linked article, you’ll find a great photo of Hall looking like lot like Solzhenitsyn, only cheerier, while receiving the National Medal of Arts from President Obama in 2011.

Have a bright Thursday and stay scrupulously honest to the data.