“ [O]ver the years I travelled to another universe. However alert we are, however much we think we know what will happen, antiquity remains an unknown, unanticipated galaxy. It is alien, and old people… Donald Hall
“ As Henry Moore carvedor modelled his sculpture every day,he strove to surpass Donatello4. and failed, but woke the next morningelated for another try. Donald Hall
“ As I grew older - collapsing into my seventies, glimpsing ahead the cliffs of the eighties, colliding into eighty-five - poetry abandoned me. Donald Hall
“ Sound had always been my portal to poetry, but in the beginning, sound was imagined through the eye. Donald Hall
“ Even famous poets such as Marianne Moore and William Carlos Williams were rarely asked to read their poems. Donald Hall
“ I have written some poetry and two prose books about baseball, but if I had been a rich man, I probably would not have written many of the magazine essays that I have had to do. But, needing to write… Donald Hall
“ Not everything in old age is grim. I haven't walked through an airport for years, and wheelchairs are the way to travel. Donald Hall
“ Every afternoon, I shut the door of my bedroom to write: Poetry was secret, dangerous, wicked and delicious. Donald Hall
“ Poetry is what I've done my whole life. And every important thing in my life had found itself into poems. Donald Hall
“ After a couple of years of public high school, I went to Exeter - an insane conglomeration of adolescent males in the wilderness, all of whom claimed to hate poetry. Donald Hall
“ I loathe the trivialization of poetry that happens in creative writing classes. Teachers set exercises to stimulate subject matter: Write a poem about an imaginary landscape with real people in it. Wr… Donald Hall
“ 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 g… Donald Hall
“ In my life, I've seen enormous increase in the consumption of poetry. When I was young, there were virtually no poetry readings. Donald Hall
“ When it comes to poetry, I think partly the numbers of people attempting to write poems is probably a result or the reaction to technology. Donald Hall
“ I've always felt that poetry was particularly erotic, more than prose was... I say that you read poems not with your eyes and not with your ears, but with your mouth. You taste it. Donald Hall
“ 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
“ Poetry offers works of art that are beautiful, like paintings, which are my second favorite work of the art, but there are also works of art that embody emotion and that are kind of school for feeling… Donald Hall
