Dana Greene

The unspoken teaching of Kenyon’s poetry is that the joy in the given moment must be grasped. One must choose to live.

from Jane Kenyon by Dana Greene
I enjoyed this detailed biography of the poet Jane Kenyon which delves into her growth as a poet and her relationship with Donald Hall. It is the story of a woman battling with debilitating depression, a poet struggling to forge a career while in her husband’s shadow, a wife burdened her husband’s neediness. Her poems revealed the beauty of life while aware of its fragility.

Kenyon grew up in rural Ann Arbor where she gloried in nature while contending with distant parents, her mother manic-depressive. She rejected their Methodist faith focused on rules and the next world. She attended the University of Michigan where she took a class with Donald Hall and subsequentially changed her major to English and creative writing. After a failed love affair, Hall sought her out. Hall was nineteen years her senior, divorced, adrift and needy. They realized they needed each other and married.

The couple moved to Hall’s ancestral home in New Hampshire, which had a major impact on Kenyon’s life. The rural beauty and solitude were a balm. When the local Methodist church pastor spoke of Rilke, the couple knew they had found a spiritual home. The pastor preached a God of forgiveness and love and prevenient grace open to all who accept it, and Kenyon’s faith blossomed.

The God that our minister here talked about in his sermons was a God who overcomes with love, not a God of rules and prohibitions. This was a God who, if you ask, forgives you no matter how far down in the well you are. If I didn’t believe that I couldn’t live.

Kenyon, quoted in Jane Kenyon by Dana Greene
Kenyon struggled to have a life separate from Hall’s, complicated as they were both poets. He was demanding and possessive. Her women friends provided an important support for her work, especially the women in her critique group. “My women friends in particular give me the courage I need to just be who I am,” she remarked. Her poetry reflected her struggles with depression.

Kenyon became recognized and won numerous awards. Bill Moyers Journal featured Kenyon and Hall, which propagated the myth of an idyllic marriage of two artists, a myth Hall promoted.

Although Hall dealt with recurrent cancer, he survived Kenyon who died at age 47 from leukemia.

I came to this book with only the most general knowledge of Kenyon, particularly articles I read after her death. I found this book to be engrossing and engaging, and it has spurred my interest in reading more of Kenyon’s poetry.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.… (mehr)