Donald Hall: "Mt. Kearsarge" (06:26)

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Poets, Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon, live at Hall's ancestral farm house at Eagle Pond in New Hampshire. Hall places emphasis on place and sound in his poem about Mt. Kearsarge, where he now lives.

Donald Hall: New Hampshire Dialect (03:33)

Donald Hall uses New Hampshire's regional dialect as an inspiration for some of his poetry.

Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon (02:43)

Donald Hall reads his wife's poem, "Twilight After Haying," and Jane Kenyon reads Don's poem, "The Long River," poems about the passage of time and life.

Jane Kenyon: "Room to Room" (03:59)

Jane Kenyon persuaded Donald Hall to return to his ancestral home in New Hampshire. She describes the feeling of family ties found in living in her husband's family home in her poem, "Room to Room."

Donald Hall: Poetry as a Way of Life (07:26)

Donald Hall always knew he wanted to be a poet and began writing poetry at the age of 12. He shares some of his earlier works and the family events and stories that heavily impacted his poetry and his life.

Donald Hall: "My Son, My Executioner" (02:52)

After reading his poem, "My Son, My Executioner," Donald Hall reflects on both his relationship with his father and his son as well as the ambivalence and contradiction often present in poetry.

Jane Kenyon: Writing About Depression (08:52)

Diagnosed with manic-depression, Jane Kenyon often writes about depression and likens it to a long cold winter which one can come out of like the emergence of spring and flowers.

Kenyon and Hall at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival (03:09)

At the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in New Jersey, Jane Kenyon reads her poem, "Briefly it Enters and Briefly Speaks." Donald Hall reads his ironic poem, "Praise for Death."

Jane Kenyon: Poetry About Mortality (04:27)

Donald Hall and wife, Jane Kenyon, discuss Hall's struggle with cancer and the impact of his health issues on their individual writings and their lives. Kenyon's poem, "Pharaoh," is dedicated to Don.

Donald Hall: "Tubes" (03:30)

After a major surgery to remove a large tumor in his liver, Donald Hall writes with humor about his own mortality as he recovers from cancer.

Hall and Kenyon: Life's Cycle (05:40)

Jane Kenyon vividly describes the onset of evening in her poem, "Let Evening Come." In the poem, "Ox Cart," Donald Hall portrays the endless cycle of labor in life inspired by a folk tale handed down by word of mouth.