{"product_id":"essays-after-eighty-9780544570313","title":"Essays After Eighty","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe former US Poet Laureate contemplates life, death, and the view from his window in these \"alternately lyrical and laugh-out-loud funny\" essays (\u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis entire life, Donald Hall dedicated himself to the written word, putting together a storied career as a poet, essayist, and memoirist. Here, in the \"unknown, unanticipated galaxy\" of very old age, his essays startle, move, and delight. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eEssays After Eighty, \u003c\/em\u003e Hall ruminates on his past: \"thirty was terrifying, forty I never noticed because I was drunk, fifty was best with a total change of life, sixty extended the bliss of fifty . . .\" He also addresses his present: \"When I turned eighty and rubbed testosterone on my chest, my beard roared like a lion and gained four inches.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMost memorably, Hall writes about his enduring love affair with his ancestral Eagle Pond Farm and with the writing life that sustains him every day: \"Yesterday my first nap was at 9:30 a.m., but when I awoke I wrote again.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Alluring, inspirational hominess . . . \u003cem\u003eEssays After Eighty\u003c\/em\u003e is a treasure . . . balancing frankness about losses with humor and gratitude.\"--\u003cem\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A fine book of remembering all sorts of things past, \u003cem\u003eEssays After Eighty\u003c\/em\u003e is to be treasured.\"--\u003cem\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDONALD HALL, who served as poet laureate of the United States from 2006 to 2007, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a recipient of the National Medal of the Arts, awarded by the president.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Ecco Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50720775962898,"sku":"9780544570313","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5f9a079f-3615-48ad-a6d1-9d5555833ccf.jpg?v=1734675987","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/essays-after-eighty-9780544570313","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}