The One Day
![]() First edition | |
Author | Donald Hall |
---|---|
Original title | The One Day |
Published | Mariner Books |
Media type | |
Pages | 80 |
Awards | National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry (1988) |
ISBN | 0899198163 |
The One Day by Donald Hall is a book-length poem.
Synopsis[]
The book is composed of three parts--"Shrubs Burnt Away," "Four Classic Texts" and "To Build a House", employing a 10-line stanza with variable line length in an experimental form. It centers on mid-life anxiety, using phrases like "a preparation of death." It is not completely dark and despairing, as it focuses on how to make a life worth living, instructing readers to: "Work, love, build a house, and die. But build a house."
Awards and Acclaim[]
- Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry (1988)
- "Its passion and urgency are rare and remarkable." - The Washington Post
- "...the concept of middle age is explored with fresh insight and expressed in brilliant turns of phrase." - Publishers Weekly.
External links[]
Categories:
- American poems
- 1988 books
- Poem stubs