Collected Poems

by Jane Kenyon

37/60 | Started 01.05.25 • Finished 08.14.26

I've wanted to get more poetry into my repertoire and Jane Kenyon seemed like just the ticket after reading a few excerpts of her on a blog/substack/newsletter (I don't remember which). Kenyon was a prolific writer, who apparently came into it later in a her life, though she did die quite young. I read a fascinating article by her husband, Donald Hall, that spoke to what kept them together through the years - something he calls "third things." Included in that article were windows into her writing process.

Kenyon primarily writes about nature, but for what it reveals about the human condition, not so much just nature itself. This particular volume has some works translated by Kenyon in the back, which I didn't enjoy nearly as much. So I skipped most of that (ha!). I took her poems slowly (as you can tell by the start and finish date) and they were worth savoring. I'd recommend this to anyone looking to dip their toe into poetry, but who might be intimidated by poetry in general as a more heady and complicated genre. 5 stars.