Jane Kenyon epitomizes many poets of the 1970s and 1980s: a feminist of sorts; an academic brought up through the ranks of little-magazine publication, followed by contracts with the independent presses. Her residence in New Hampshire and her marriage to well-known poet and editor Donald Hall have been major influences on her work.

Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on 23 May 1947, Kenyon attended the University of Michigan, earning her B.A. in 1970 and her M.A. in 1972. That same year, she married Hall (on 17 April). She has won several awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1981) and the New Hampshire Commission on the Arts (1984).

Her first book, From Room to Room (1978), is the poetic diary of a honeymoon, in which a young wife explores the spaces between her and her husband, and her new and former homes. Several poems concern short spates of the husband's absence...