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Jean Valentine

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Jean Valentine


Born
April 27, 1934

Genre
Poetry


Jean Valentine (born April 27, 1934) is an American poet, and currently the New York State Poet (2008–2010). Her poetry collection, Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965–2003, was awarded the 2004 National Book Award for Poetry.

Her most recent book Break the Glass (Copper Canyon Press, 2010) was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Her first book, Dream Barker, won the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition in 1965. She has published poems widely in literary journals and magazines, including The New Yorker, and Harper's Magazine, and The American Poetry Review. Valentine was one of five poets including Charles Wright, Russell Edson, James Tate and Louise Gluck, whose work Lee Upton considered critically in The ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 4.21 · 1,702 ratings · 184 reviews · 41 distinct works • Similar authors
Door in the Mountain: New a...
4.32 avg rating — 368 ratings — published 2004 — 10 editions
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Break the Glass
3.91 avg rating — 261 ratings — published 2010 — 5 editions
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Little Boat (Wesleyan Poetr...
4.16 avg rating — 161 ratings — published 2007
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Shirt in Heaven
4.12 avg rating — 154 ratings — published 2015 — 4 editions
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The River at Wolf
4.39 avg rating — 93 ratings — published 1992 — 3 editions
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The Cradle of the Real Life...
4.21 avg rating — 97 ratings — published 2000 — 2 editions
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Home Deep Blue: New and Sel...
4.30 avg rating — 71 ratings — published 1988 — 3 editions
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Lucy: A Poem (Quarternote C...
4.29 avg rating — 58 ratings — published 2009 — 2 editions
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Dream Barker and Other Poems
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 46 ratings — published 1965 — 8 editions
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Ordinary Things
4.13 avg rating — 38 ratings — published 1972 — 5 editions
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More books by Jean Valentine…
Quotes by Jean Valentine  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“God break me out of this stiff life I've made”
― Jean Valentine
14 likes
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“Blessed are those
who break off from separateness

theirs is wild
heaven.”
― Jean Valentine, Little Boat
7 likes
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“Never ran this hard through the valley
never ate so many stars

I was carrying a dead deer
tied on to my neck and shoulders

deer legs hanging in front of me
heavy on my chest

People are not wanting
to let me in

Door in the mountain
let me in”
― Jean Valentine, Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003
tags: nature-imagery, poetry
6 likes
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Topics Mentioning This Author

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You'll love this ...: Thing Two's Tidy Tally 2013 116 155 Jan 01, 2014 10:37AM  
Ersatz TLS: This topic has been closed to new comments. Literary Birthdays - April 26th through May 2nd 1 13 Apr 26, 2021 03:20PM  
Book Nook Cafe: Obituaries ~ 2021 219 53 Jan 07, 2022 07:24PM  
Book Nook Cafe: * Poetry ~~ 2025 407 62 Dec 21, 2025 02:43PM  


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