Jane Kenyon: A Literary Life

Rating:
Summary: It Should Have Been Otherwise
Review: As a reader who has had to buy Otherwise several times to replace
those copies enthusiastically given to friends and acquaintances,
I was looking forward to reading what I hoped would be an
insightful biography. I will not try to express
my disappointment other than to say that after about a hundred
pages I threw this book into the wastebasket in disgust. Buy "A
Hundred White Daffodils" which is quoted from so often and
so extensively one suspects how much effort was put toward
any other source. Apart from the quotes, the book seems more
written by a freshman student than anyone else. Jane Kenyon
deserves a good biographer. This book is an embarrassment.

Rating:
Summary: Satisfying - Couldn't Put it Down
Review: As someone who adores Jane Kenyon and her writings, I looked forward to this book for months, and wasn't disappointed. It was especially enlightening to read excerpts from her teenage journals and see the early writings of the woman she would turn into; she never lost her sense of self, humor and determinedness.
Those who know her poems will be delighted to learn of the early drafts and background to their writing. Kenyon's husband, Donald Hall, also adds pertinent commentary. This book will reward you and send you back to the poems and writings of this wonderful woman.

Rating:
Summary: False Advertising
Review: The problem with this book is simple: it is not what it claims to be. In every way, from the title to the dust-jacket materials, this work is presented as a biography--specifically, a critical biography--of Jane Kenyon. It is not. It is a straightforward piece of literary criticism and analysis, rather simple in its approach, and as such perhaps useful for students in Introduction to Poetry courses which utilize Kenyon's work. It reminds me, in fact, of nothing so much as the old Twayne's series of introductory-level criticism.

There is some biographical material here, but it is entirely contained in the book's first two chapters, and is not especially illuminating (the teenage journal entries are the only point of interest).

It speaks poorly of this publishing house that such an overt attempt has been made to disguise the contents of this book. As another reviewer on this page stated, Jane Kenyon deserves a real biographer. Those who purchase "Jane Kenyon: A Literary Life" are bound to be disappointed, as I was.