Endurance Trumps Talent Every Day of the Week
'Mere literary talent is common; what is rare is endurance, the continuing desire to work hard at writing.'
--poet Donald Hall. To learn more about the poet and his ouevre, you can go here. You can read the transcript of an interview with him and listen to an interview he did with NPR. Finally, you can go here to read a poem he wrote about his daily writing discipline.
2 Comments:
I find myself with mixed feelings. I often agree with Hall's opinions, such as this one, but I often dislike his poetry. A lot of it just doesn't work as poetry, for me.
Bu I remember being a kid in Ann Arbor in elementary or middle school when Hall was a professor at the University of Michigan. He came into our classroom for readings and questions, and was quite a presence. The day left me with a vivid memory; I don't know if it had anything to do with encouraging me to write poetry, since I really wasn't at the time, and didn't for some time later, and because my own poetry is very different from Hall's.
There are a lot things Hall has done that I dislike or disagree with. Yet his presence remains provocative. A mixed response. He might after all be an effective Poet Laureate.
Art, that's a fascinating insight, doubly fascinating for me, because it resonates with my own limited experience of the guy. He has been on my radar screen for some years, not because of his poetry, but because an old friend (who I haven't seen for years) happened to mention him years ago as the father of her college roommate. The stories she told of him and his bard-like presence were more interesting to me than his poetry, which didn't so much leave me cold, but also didn't especially warm me up, either. Fairly close to what you've just said. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
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