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Jane Kenyon

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Poet

The Resume

    (May 23, 1947-April 22, 1995)
    Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan
    Poet and Russian to English translator
    Wrote and published the poetry books 'From Room to Room (1978),' 'The Boat of Quiet Hours (1986),' 'Let Evening Come (1990)' and 'Constance (1993)'
    Posthumous books include 'Otherwise: New and Selected Poems (1996)' and 'Jane Kenyon: Collected Poems (2005)'
    Died of leukemia in New Hampshire at age 47

Why she might be annoying:

    She suffered from depression her entire adult life.
    In 1972, she married fellow poet Donald Hall, 19 years her senior.
    Two visits to India in the early 1990s left her at odds with her Christian faith (which she documented).
    A book published after her death was the awkwardly titled 'A Hundred White Daffodils: Essays, Interviews, the Akhmatova Translations, Newspaper Columns, and One Poem.' (1999)

Why she might not be annoying:

    She studied at the the University of Michigan, where she earned a B.A. in 1970 and an M.A. in 1972.
    Many of her poems were accessible in their simplicity and imagery of rural life.
    She helped translate several poems of famed Russian poet Anna Akhmatova.
    She and her husband were the subjects of the 1993 Bill Moyers' documentary 'A Life Together,' which earned an Emmy.
    Poet Hayden Carruth wrote letters to her from the time she was diagnosed with terminal cancer until her death, which were published in 2004, titled 'Letter to Jane.'
    In the 2005 movie 'In Her Shoes,' the character portrayed by Cameron Diaz reads aloud her poem 'Let Evening Come' to a blind nursing home resident.
    At the time of her death, she was New Hampshire's poet laureate.

Credit: Scar Tactics


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 19 Votes: 5.26% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 75 Votes: 53.33% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 76 Votes: 65.79% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 17 Votes: 58.82% Annoying