New Hampshire’s Donald Hall: 14th U.S. ‘Poet Laureate’

Posted on 17 June, 2006 by Janice Brown

I originally wrote this story about Donald Hall in June of 2006 when he was first appointed Poet Laureate of New Hampshire.  Today I read that Mr. Hall passed away on 23 June 2018 at the age of 89.  He lived on a farm called Eagle Pond.  How appropriate to live there as his words soared as high as that wondrous bird flies.  Rest in Peace, Donald Hall.

—- The original 2006 story —-

The newspapers and ezines are full of articles about our new Poet Laureate, Donald Hall.

My question is…. what exactly IS a “Poet Laureate?”

First, in the United States, the title is really “Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry.” (In 1985 the title was changed to this, from the former “Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress”).

 Donald Hall’s first official duties will start on September 30th in the National Mall in Washington D.C., where he is a featured speaker at the Library of Congress National Book Festival’s poetry pavilion.

His goal will be to “seek to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.” This position is appointed yearly by the Librarian of Congress.  The Poet Laureate serves from October to May, and receives a $35,000 annual stipend funded by a gift from Archer M. Huntington.

Each Laureate brings a different emphasis to the position. Past Poet Laureates have created poetry workshops for women, or met with elementary school students to encourage them to write.  As the newest 14th Poet Laureate, Donald Hall has not yet announced his focus.

Donald Hall is also a former Poet Laureate of New Hampshire from 1995-1999. In New Hampshire, the position of Poet Laureate was not established until 1967.  It is purely an unpaid, honorary position, that is appointed by the Governor of New Hampshire on a worthy New Hampshire resident.

Amy Kane has a great article at Area 603 where you learn more about Donald Hall himself, and visit some great links to videos of him; and Pun Salad offers insight into Donald Hall’s children’s book, “Ox-Cart Man.”

Janice

P.S.: Although not a native of New Hampshire (he was born in Connecticut in 1928), Donald Hall’s mother and grandmother were born in New Hampshire, and he has lived in Wilmot for at least 30 years. His maternal grandmother’s Keniston line hails back to before 1646 in Portsmouth and Greenland, New Hampshire.

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Donald R. Hall, 2006 "Poet Laureate" of the United States (1928-living)

Posted on 16 June, 2006 by Janice Brown

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Exeter New Hampshire, African American Poet, James Monroe Whitfield (1822-1871)

Posted on 16 June, 2006 by Janice Brown

James Monroe Whitfield was born 10 April 1822 in Exeter, New Hampshire.

Little is known about his family and education, except that he had a sister, Elizabeth P. Allen, whose daughter, Annie Pauline Pindell, was a concert singer and songwriter.  Some say he was a descendant of Ann Paul, sister of Thomas Paul, an Exeter, New Hampshire, clergyman.

He may have been educated in New York city, and he was “an avowed emigrationist.” He apparently settled in Buffalo, New York where he was employed as a barber, when he was visited by Frederick Douglass, who said of him, “the malignant arrangements of society has chained him in the barber shop.”

In May of 1853 his “America and Other Poems” was published while he was living in Buffalo, New York.

According to ProQuest, he was  “a regular contributor to abolitionist journals, whose ironic and accusatory poems such as ‘The Misanthropist’ and ‘America’ anticipate the Black nationalism of later generations.”

The 1860 U.S. Census shows, a man who I believe to be the poet, James Whitfield, living in New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife and three sons.  If the ages are correct, this would place the Whitfield Family in New York State from at least 1846-1853, and in Ohio around 1854.  James Monroe Whitfield died of heart disease in San Francisco in 1871.

1860 United States Federal Census > Connecticut > New Haven > New Haven Ward 6
James Whitfield 38 M B Barber 2,000 40 [born in ] NH
Frances Whitfield 38 F B Conn
James Whitfield 6 M B Ohio [b abt 1854 Ohio]
Charles Whitfield 14 M B New York [b abt 1846 NY]
Walter Whitfield 11 M B New York [b abt 1849 NY]

His poetry scrutinizes the questions of slavery and freedom. James M. Whitfield was an important part of the first African American literary renaissance.  His stirring declarations in verse masterfully combined artistry and acrimony.

And o’er the nation’s wide domain,
Where once was heard the clanking chain,
And timorous bondmen crouched in fear,
Before the brutal overseer,
Proclaim the truth that equal laws
Can best sustain the righteous cause;
And let this nation henceforth be
In truth the country of the free.”

Janice

—ADDITIONAL READING—

Book of Poetry: “America And Other Poems” [online]

Poem: “To Cinque,” from America and Other Poems.

Poem: “Written for the Celebration of the Fourth Anniversary of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation”

Hymn: “A Hymn”, Written For The Dedication Of The Michigan Street Baptist Church, Buffalo”

Poem: “New Years Hymn”

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New Hampshire Glossary: Oysters (Aw Shucks)

Posted on 15 June, 2006 by Janice Brown

“Oysters are not good in the month that has not an R in it…”

This saying was penned in 1599, and the advice is still good today.

Other ancient writings reveal:

“The oyster is unseasonable and unholesome in all moneths that haue not the letter R in their name.” (1600) “Oysters are a cruel meat.” (1611)

“They are ungodly, because they are eaten without grace; uncharitable, because they leave nought but shells; and unprofitable, because they must swim in wine (1738). They say oysters are a cruel meat, because we eat them alive.  Then they are an uncharitable meat, for we leave nothing to the poor; and they are an ungodly meat, because we never say grace.”

“The oyster is a gentle thing, and will not come until you sing.” (1869).

Oh, and let’s not forget a definition….

Oysters happen to be one of my favorite all time food… steamed with garlic, Oysters Rockefeller, you get the idea…  What is your favorite?  Or do you just detest the sight and taste?

Think of what oysters can do with a speck of dirt! Beat that!

Janice

–Additional Reading–

“Little Known Facts About Oysters”

“Learn More About Oysters”

“Oysters Are Cool”

“New Hampshire: Red Tide is Biblical”

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New Hampshire Slanguage: Frappe

Posted on 13 June, 2006 by Janice Brown

New Hampshire natives, and others in New England…

prefer to call a milkshake, a “frappe.”  It is one of my favorite “slanguage” words.  I first wrote about the origin of this drink in 2006 and recently decided to revisit the origin of the frappe.

The word itself appears to be either French or Greek in origin, and became popularly used in New England around the late 1800s into the early 1900s.  This exactly matches the time frame in which New England experienced a great influx of immigrants from both the countries of Canada (many of whom were French-speaking) and from Greece. These newly arrived families quickly found jobs at the many mills that had sprung up all along the Merrimack valley in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

I thought that perhaps these French and Greek immigrants brought the drink to New England.  I was wrong.  They didn’t!   The usage of ‘frappe’ in New Hampshire may have originated in Philadelphia.  James Parkinson of Philadelphia was a food inventor, famous throughout the 19th century, who specialized in ice cream treats.   In the 1840s he became a restaurateur.  He created sorbets and frozen ices using alcohol. In 1850 he created the Champagne frappe à la glace made with sparkling wine and Champagne-flavored water ice. Literally, this means “Champagne hits the ice.”   (So to you folks who recently are trying to claim that a Greek soda fountain owner invented this, so sorry he didn’t.).

Later, in places outside of New England a frappe came to mean a blended, iced coffee drink with milk added. Eventually it became a name for any blended milk or ice cream-based drink, usually with a flavored syrup added. Often a straw is an accessory used to drink down to the last drop.

Frappes were very popular in the early 1900s when Soda Fountains were a mainstay.  Types of frappes advertised in the 1902 Boston Globe included mint, ginger, and peach. The 10 May 1907 Harrisburg Daily Independent newspaper promoted some new “Fountain Frappe Drinks” with exotic names and good prices: Buster Brown 10c, Ping Pong 15c, and Honey Dew 5c.

Today a mixture of cold milk with syrup or flavoring, either stirred or mixed in a blender, is known as a MILK SHAKE.   Only the version where ICE CREAM is added is called a FRAPPE.  Please do not confuse the two.

Frappe Trivia: In Rhode Island a frappe is called a CABINET.  MacDonald’s first menu did NOT offer frappes – they were triple thick shakes.

Janice

P.S. Did you know that the the first soda fountain patent was granted to Samuel Fahnestock in 1819.

– Yankee Magazine: The Difference Between A Frappe and a Milkshake

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