Jean Valentine’s poetry may be independent today, but at one point she was influenced heavily by Elizabeth Bishop. While both had difficult childhoods, Valentine still loves Bishop mainly for her poetry. Their poetry is stylistically similar. “Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry is characterized by gentleness of vision and preoccupation with capturing the core of reality”(MEL). Valentine expands from a realistic to a historical setting. Amy Newman states “Valentine’s work wells from necessity, and records an ongoing process”. Valentine and Bishop go about poetry in a realistic way, which makes the two very similar in their works.
Valentine says works by Elizabeth Bishop and “confessional poets” such as Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath influenced her early writings. But after her first collection, she says she began to “develop a voice of [her] own.” (blog)
It seems that women poets are especially important to you.
JV: I made friends with Adrienne and Jane right at the beginning. But I didn’t know about many women who were writing poetry. I was very late finding out about Muriel Rukeyser. Jane and Adrienne were very important as living friends. And then Elizabeth Bishop was always important. I carried her books around for years. Eleanor Ross Taylor has always been important to me. (interview)
Both Valentine and Bishop were lonely in their childhood, which allows the two to relate to the other’s story. Responding to Klein’s question about Elizabeth Bishop and homesickness, Valentine says, “I felt a longing for connection … Maybe [Bishop] being an orphan and my being … whatever” (MEL). Valentine’s whatever refers to her difficult childhood. “Valentine was ten when her father returned from the Second World War, suffering from post-traumatic stress. ‘It was a very sad and awful time for [her parents] and for all of us, so I got out of the house as much as I could?’” (MEL). The two can relate very well that way and both have empathy for the other’s situation.
Between the difficult childhood and the realistic style that the two have, they have to be similar. Valentine has even stated her love for Bishop’s writings and the influence. Bishop probably does not know Valentine much, but that’s okay because Bishop died before Valentine’s major works.
Bishop and Adrienne Rich are certainly major contemporaries of Valentine. Good work finding supporting sources. Would add to the discussion if you included something of the poetry of Rich or especially Bishop in order to see the poets’ work together even though Valentine says she moved past influence. Perhaps you could show this or at least speculate.