The One Day

The One Day by Donald Hall is a book-length poem. It was included on critic Harold Bloom's list of works constituting the Western Canon.

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
"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.