WILMOT, N.H. – Former U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall, one of the eminent poets of his generation, died Saturday at his country home.
Hall lived on his family farm and free-lanced his work,. He was a strong voice for rural life and said poetry that endures is a goal poets will never know if they attain.
“To desire to write poems that endure-we undertake such a goal certain of two things: that in all likelihood we will fail, and if we succeed we will never know it”
Hall’s passing was announced by literary agent, Wendy Strothman. Hall had defeated cancer, which he was diagnosed with in 1989.
Hall was the nation’s 44th Poet Laureate. There have been 52. Hall is the third leading poet to die in the last year as John Ashbery and Leonard Cohen both died within the last 12 months.