From Publishers Weekly
As carefully culled and tended as the New England flower gardens that Kenyon, a poet who died of leukemia in 1995, wrote about with such bone-aching clarity, this collection of sundry, posthumous prose and poetry illuminates a little-known corner of her oeuvre. Kenyon's introduction to the Akhmatova translations is discouraging: she offers a tepid account of Akhmatova's life and ends with disclaimer upon disclaimer warning that Akhmatova's trademark "beautiful clarity" will be lost in her English renditions. What a thrill, then, to find such beauty and density of feeling in the skillfully controlled translations. Kenyon's sharply realized if understated short essays originally published in a local New Hampshire newspaper are also noteworthy; in them, she revisits the terrain of her poems, particularly such themes as religion, gardening and the regenerative force of nature. In the transcripts of Kenyon's interviews with Bill Moyers, David Bradt and Marian Blue, there is a determined poignancy. The woman who comes to life in these pages is witty, guileless, humble and heartbreakingly intelligent. One is left wanting more, as if continuing the interviews could restore this vibrant person to life. The final installment in this volume is the unfinished poem, "Woman Why Are You Weeping," startling in its deft foray into religious faith, Third-World crisis and race relations. Like much of Kenyon's work, it is at once irresistible and devastating. It is quite clear why the poet felt such kinship for Akhmatova, for she, too, has achieved a "beautiful clarity." (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
When Kenyon died of leukemia in 1995, colleagues and fans alike were left bereft. This posthumous collection includes short essays, interviews, a few of Kenyon's translations of the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, and one unfinished poem. Accessible, earnest, and devoid of urbane ironies, the essays focus mostly on either her small (New England) country community or her garden, examining her growing spiritual life and what it is to live while things are going on inside without one's knowledge or consent. Also covered are notions of writing, facing her own and her husband's bouts with cancer, and, in one of the interviews, a discussion of her struggle with depression. The book succeeds in illuminating a poet and woman of remarkable presence. Recommended for all libraries.AScott Hightower, Fordham Univ., New York Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Six years before her death in 1995, Kenyon began writing prose for publication, largely, explains her husband, Donald Hall, "because she could address her neighbors" through the New Hampshire newspaper the Concord Monitor. All but four of those columns appear here, along with similar pieces published in the magazine Yankee or previously unpublished. They are exquisite little essays, mostly on seasonal events, especially in the garden, for Kenyon was an ardent flower gardener. They are the heart of this companion to her deeply moving final selection of her poems, Otherwise (1997). They are accompanied by a reprinting of her translation Twenty Poems of Anna Akhmatova (1985); some notes on poetry and the arts in general; transcripts of three interviews concerned with her work and her lifelong endurance of clinical depression; and an uncompleted poem, "Woman, Why Are You Weeping?" about the crisis of faith roused by a tour of India. Although not as fine as her poems, these writings present her most appealingly--hopefully, even to those who don't know her verse. Ray Olson


From Kirkus Reviews
This somewhat choppy but affecting collection of translations, essays, interviews, and one new poem by Kenyon is indispensable reading for admirers of her work. Her husband, poet Donald Hall, has assembled both unpublished and previously published works by and interviews with the poet. Kenyon (Otherwise: New and Selected Poems, not reviewed, etc.) died of leukemia in 1995. The mlange of poems, articles, notes, and interviews succeeds in conveying resonant themes in Kenyons life: gardening, Christianity, her home in New Hampshire, her marriage, illness. The collection opens with Twenty Poems of Anna Akhmatova. These breathtaking translations of the Russian poet are finely wrought with Kenyons devotion to image and respect for Akhmatovas style and emotional intent. In the middle sectionsher memoirs of religion in childhood and columns from her local newspaperKenyon is at her best describing elements of her garden. Her peonies are white, voluminous, and here and there display flecks of raspberry red on the edges of their fleshy, heavily scented petals. While her newspaper columns are often charming, and the language is precise and evocative, Kenyon too often falls into glib summation or pithy neighborly advice: So remember, when you urge your children to hurry lest they miss the bus, you urge them toward a complicated future, much of which is subject to random luck. Kenyons dialogue with consummate interviewer Bill Moyers more adequately delves into her life as a public and private woman. Her reflections on her marriage, her craft, her struggle with depression, and her love for the natural world are juxtaposed with her poems, offering a powerful portrait of the interplay between life and art. The final, previously unpublished poem, Woman Why Are You Weeping, a meditation on how a trip to India challenged her Christian faith, makes a haunting, beautiful endnote. Though at times uneven and repetitive, this posthumous collection offers a rich and varied look into the working life of a well-loved American poet. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"What a thrill . . . to find such beauty and density of feeling in [these] skillfully controlled [Akhmatova] translations. Kenyon's sharply realized if understated short essays originally published in a local New Hampshire newspaper are also noteworthy; in them, she revisits the terrain of her poems, particularly such themes as religion, gardening, and the regenerative force of nature. In the transcripts of Kenyon's interviews with Bill Moyers, David Bradt, and Marian Blue, there is a determined poignancy. The woman who comes to life in these pages is witty, guileless, humble, and heartbreakingly intelligent. One is left wanting more, as if continuing the interviews could restore this vibrant person to life. The final installment in this volume is the unfinished poem, 'Woman, Why Are You Weeping?', startling in its deft foray into religious faith, Third-World crisis, and race relations. Like much of Kenyon's work, it is at once irresistible and devastating."—Publishers Weekly

"The book succeeds in illuminating a poet and woman of remarkable presence."—Library Journal

"[Kenyon] writes prose the way she writes poetry, turning simple or frankly unbeautiful things sideways and inviting us to see what they offer us to love. Some of the most moving essays here chronicle her quest to make peace with Christianity, and in an introduction, her husband, the poet Donald Hall, recalls a vision that left her 'in a quiet, exalted, shining mood.' We leave this book the same way."—The New Yorker

"The collection opens with 'Twenty Poems of Anna Akhmatova.' These breathtaking translations of the Russian poet are finely wrought with Kenyon's devotion to image and respect for Akhmatova's style and emotional intent. In the middle sections—her memoirs of religion in childhood and columns from her local newspaper—Kenyon is at her best describing elements of her garden . . . The final, previously unpublished poem . . . a meditation on how a trip to India challenged her Christian faith, makes a haunting, beautiful endnote . . . This posthumous collection offers a rich and varied look into the working life of a well-loved American poet."—Kirkus Reviews

"With the proliferation of self-help books promising happiness, love, and the power to want what you already have, perhaps it's time to rediscover the pleasures of art, peonies, walking the dog, and reading aloud in bed. There is no guru, no Zen master, no Oprah guest who can rekindle an appreciation for life more than poet Kenyon, who passed away in 1995 from leukemia. Her work is, in a word, scrupulous. Kenyon's care for every word and line is such that she rarely, if ever, misses. In this collection, her husband, poet Donald Hall, compiles Kenyon's translations of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova's poems; columns she wrote for The Concord Monitor on the crafts of poetry, hiking, friendship, and pruning her beloved gardens; and interviews in which she speaks openly and insightfully about her lifelong struggle with depression. Especially strong are her notes for a lecture entitled 'Everything I Know About Writing Poetry.' To her credit, 'Everything' is three pages long and ends with, 'Be a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time . . . Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk.' If ever someone were to mandate a poet for aspiring poets to read, surely Kenyon should be that poet."—Colleen Corrigan



Book Description
In this enlightening and typically endearing collection of prose and poetry, the late author of five highly regarded books of verse reflects on her writing life, growing spirituality, passionate hobbies, and ultimately fatal struggle with leukemia. Kenyon is one of the most beloved poets on the contemporary American scene; this book shows us why and how this came to be.



Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian


Card catalog description
"Kenyon's last collection, Otherwise: New & Selected Poems, remains a phenomenon: a best-seller that testifies to the impact Kenyon has had on the poetic landscape."--BOOK JACKET. "A Hundred White Daffodils is a companion volume that sheds illumination on a poet, and a woman, of great presence. It offers glimpses into a life cut too short and traces the influences that created Kenyon's poetic voice. The book includes Kenyon's translations of the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, and insights into how Kenyon chose her as a muse. It presents a variety of Kenyon's prose pieces about the writing life, her spiritual life, her country community, her gardens - themes that readers will well remember from her poems. Transcripts of interviews provide further understanding as Kenyon faces her struggle with depression and the losses wrought by illness. Finally, there is an unfinished, visionary poem that makes one wonder what might have been if Kenyon had been given the chance to create more poetry."--BOOK JACKET.

FROM OUR EDITORS

What feeds a poet's mind and lets poetry come? Most of the time, a book of poems shows only the finished product, careful stanzas of pored-over lines that are as perfect as the poet can make them. The stretch marks, the extra coffees, and the drafts thrown to the trash in despair are rarely printed.

There's usually no mention of long jogs, shopping trips, or elaborate gardening projects. Reading great books with a highlighter pen or painstakingly translating others' poems are also topics rarely discussed in the average book of contemporary poetry. But in order to create precise and memorable language that captures a moment, a poet does all kinds of other things besides actually write. It's those other activities that give a good poem muscle.

A Hundred White Daffodils by the late Jane Kenyon -- an accomplished, graceful poet who died from leukemia in 1995 -- offers a priceless window into a poet's mind. This rather unusual book starts with a series of excellent translations of the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. It also includes personal notes, newspaper columns, interviews, and ruminations on getting the mail and wandering through Woolworth's. There are essays on religion, thoughts on marriage, and fascinating remarks on a writer's need to find a "master" to guide her as she builds a literary career. Most importantly, by tracking just how a poet filled her days, this varied book shows how Kenyon created a world for herself in which outstanding poetry could be written.

In elegant prose, Kenyon details her love of gardening, her interest in beans, and her need to walk in nature -- and as she does so, the startling natural images in her poems begin to make more sense. A special treasure here is the section of great directions titled "Everything I Know About Writing Poetry," which says it all about how Kenyon lived:

Be a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time. Feed your inner life. Avoid too much noise. Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk. Take the phone off the hook. Work regular hours.

Kenyon was a big believer in the spare and the simple. Until she was in the fifth grade, she attended a one-room school. The small and the remote informed her later poetry, as she moved to New Hampshire and wrote quietly beautiful poems, often praising the everyday in supple, sensuous verse. One of her best-loved and most magnificent poems, "Let Evening Come," seems to belong in the country, recited in an even, unpretentious tone:

        Let the light of late afternoon
        shine through chinks in the barn, moving
        up bales as the sun moves down.

        Let the cricket take up chafing
        as a woman takes up her needles
        and her yarn. Let evening come.

Kenyon's ability to make tiny items in the natural landscape appear infused with spiritual meaning becomes evident in the last two stanzas. Following her own advice in "Everything I Know About Writing Poetry," she intentionally sticks to the specific and lets precise detail create power:

        To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop
        in the oats, to air in the lung,
        let evening come.

        Let it come, as it will, and don't
        be afraid. God does not leave us
        comfortless, so let evening come.

What's most beautiful about reading this masterful poem in this book is that by the time the poem appears -- on page 170 -- how Kenyon taught herself to write these lines seems something we are privileged to snoop through and understand. We know that Kenyon spent years with the great Akhmatova as her master, and because she told us, we know she learned how to "turn" from Akhmatova's early lyrics. Kenyon notes that Akhmatova frequently included a sharp twist, often veering from joy to pain. We even know that Kenyon titled her first book of Akhmatova translations Evening, so the word itself had resonance for her. In the musical repetition of "let evening come," we can hear the years of devotion to thinking about evening.

We know, too, that Kenyon worked at making herself at home in her husband's landscape. Though she was married to the well-known poet Donald Hall, her poems show more of a concern with creating space for herself as a woman and a wife in her husband's home base than staking a personal poetic space next to his numerous volumes and university appointments.

One short and lovely Kenyon poem directly addresses how she "added" herself to her husband's life. This is called "Finding a Long Gray Hair," and it's quoted in its entirety in the Bill Moyers interview included in the book:

        I scrub the long floorboards
        in the kitchen, repeating
        the motions of other women
        who have lived in this house.
        And when I find a long gray hair
        floating in the pail,
        I feel my life added to theirs.

This "repeating the motions" of others is a theme of the book. Hard work is made plain here, and the difficulty of being able to work is also addressed. Kenyon struggled with depression, and as Hall writes in the introduction, she knew her work was uneven. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that these seemingly disparate writings help explain how poems happen, and how a poet worked at increasing the possibility of poems occurring, of helping language come.

—Aviya Kushner

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The late author of five books on poetry, including the recent "Otherwise, " sheds light on her writing life, growing spirituality, and her struggle with leukemia, in this enlightening collection of prose.

SYNOPSIS

A Hundred White Daffodils is a gift to all those devoted to Kenyon￯﾿ﾽs poetry, an invaluable companion volume that sheds further light on a poet, and a woman, of great presence. The wonder of Jane Kenyon￯﾿ﾽs poetry is its apparent simplicity, though her readers would probably agree with the Washington Post￯﾿ﾽs assessment that "the closer one looks￯﾿ﾽthe more one finds." A Hundred White Daffodils offers a rare opportunity to see just how much more there is to Kenyon, by providing personal glimpses into her writer￯﾿ﾽs life and her growth as a poet. The book includes Kenyon￯﾿ﾽs translations of the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova and insights into how Kenyon chose her as her muse. It presents a variety of Kenyon￯﾿ﾽs prose pieces about the writing life, her growing spiritual life, her small country community, her gardens ￯﾿ﾽ themes and places that readers will well remember from her poems. Transcripts of interviews provide further insight, as Kenyon faces head-on her struggle with depression and the losses wrought by illness. Finally, there is an unfinished, visionary poem that makes one wonder what might have been if Kenyon had been given the chance to create more poetry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jane Kenyon is the author of From Room to Room, The Boat of Quiet Hours, Let Evening Come, Constance, and Otherwise: New and Selected Poems, and has translated the poems of Anna Akhmatova. In 1994 she was diagnosed with leukemia; she died in 1995.

FROM THE CRITICS

Colleen Corrigan

With the proliferation of self-help books promising happiness, love and the power to want what you already have, perhaps it￯﾿ﾽs time to rediscover the pleasures of art, peonies, walking the dog and reading aloud in bed. There is no guru, no Zen master, no Oprah guest who can rekindle an appreciation for life more than poet Kenyon, who passed away in 1995 from leukemia. Her work is, in a word, scrupulous. Kenyon￯﾿ﾽs care for every word and line is such that she rarely, if ever, misses. In this collection, her husband, poet Donald Hall, compiles Kenyon￯﾿ﾽs translations of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova￯﾿ﾽs poems; columns she wrote for The Concord Monitor on the crafts of poetry, hiking, friendship and pruning her beloved gardens; and interviews in which she speaks openly and insightfully about her lifelong struggle with depression. Especially strong are her notes for a lecture entitled ￯﾿ﾽEverything I Know About Writing Poetry.￯﾿ﾽ To her credit, ￯﾿ﾽEverything￯﾿ﾽ is three pages long and ends with, ￯﾿ﾽBe a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time. . . . Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk.￯﾿ﾽ If ever someone were to mandate a poet for aspiring poets to read, surely Kenyon should be that poet.

Publishers Weekly

As carefully culled and tended as the New England flower gardens that Kenyon, a poet who died of leukemia in 1995, wrote about with such bone-aching clarity, this collection of sundry, posthumous prose and poetry illuminates a little-known corner of her oeuvre. Kenyon's introduction to the Akhmatova translations is discouraging: she offers a tepid account of Akhmatova's life and ends with disclaimer upon disclaimer warning that Akhmatova's trademark "beautiful clarity" will be lost in her English renditions. What a thrill, then, to find such beauty and density of feeling in the skillfully controlled translations. Kenyon's sharply realized if understated short essays originally published in a local New Hampshire newspaper are also noteworthy; in them, she revisits the terrain of her poems, particularly such themes as religion, gardening and the regenerative force of nature. In the transcripts of Kenyon's interviews with Bill Moyers, David Bradt and Marian Blue, there is a determined poignancy. The woman who comes to life in these pages is witty, guileless, humble and heartbreakingly intelligent. One is left wanting more, as if continuing the interviews could restore this vibrant person to life. The final installment in this volume is the unfinished poem, "Woman Why Are You Weeping," startling in its deft foray into religious faith, Third-World crisis and race relations. Like much of Kenyon's work, it is at once irresistible and devastating. It is quite clear why the poet felt such kinship for Akhmatova, for she, too, has achieved a "beautiful clarity." (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

When Kenyon died of leukemia in 1995, colleagues and fans alike were left bereft. This posthumous collection includes short essays, interviews, a few of Kenyon's translations of the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, and one unfinished poem. Accessible, earnest, and devoid of urbane ironies, the essays focus mostly on either her small (New England) country community or her garden, examining her growing spiritual life and what it is to live while things are going on inside without one's knowledge or consent. Also covered are notions of writing, facing her own and her husband's bouts with cancer, and, in one of the interviews, a discussion of her struggle with depression. The book succeeds in illuminating a poet and woman of remarkable presence. Recommended for all libraries.--Scott Hightower, Fordham Univ., New York Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

New Yorker

Kenyon writes prose the way she writes poetry, turning simple or frankly unbeautiful things sideways and inviting us to see what they offer us to love. Some of the most moving essays here chronicle her quest to make peace with Christianity, and in an introduction her husband, the poet Donald Hall, recalls a vision that left her ￯﾿ﾽin a quiet, exalted, shining mood.￯﾿ﾽ We leave this book the same way.

Kirkus Reviews

This somewhat choppy but affecting collection of translations, essays, interviews, and one new poem by Kenyon is indispensable reading for admirers of her work. Her husband, poet Donald Hall, has assembled both unpublished and previously published works by and interviews with the poet. Kenyon (Otherwise: New and Selected Poems, not reviewed, etc.) died of leukemia in 1995. The mélange of poems, articles, notes, and interviews succeeds in conveying resonant themes in Kenyon's life: gardening, Christianity, her home in New Hampshire, her marriage, illness. The collection opens with "Twenty Poems of Anna Akhmatova." These breathtaking translations of the Russian poet are finely wrought with Kenyon's devotion to image and respect for Akhmatova's style and emotional intent. In the middle sections—her memoirs of religion in childhood and columns from her local newspaper—Kenyon is at her best describing elements of her garden. Her peonies are "white, voluminous, and here and there display flecks of raspberry red on the edges of their fleshy, heavily scented petals." While her newspaper columns are often charming, and the language is precise and evocative, Kenyon too often falls into glib summation or pithy neighborly advice: "So remember, when you urge your children to hurry lest they miss the bus, you urge them toward a complicated future, much of which is subject to random luck." Kenyon's dialogue with consummate interviewer Bill Moyers more adequately delves into her life as a public and private woman. Her reflections on her marriage, her craft, her struggle with depression, and her love for the natural world are juxtaposed with her poems, offering a powerfulportrait of the interplay between life and art. The final, previously unpublished poem, "Woman Why Are You Weeping," a meditation on how a trip to India challenged her Christian faith, makes a haunting, beautiful endnote. Though at times uneven and repetitive, this posthumous collection offers a rich and varied look into the working life of a well-loved American poet.