A New Selected Poems: Galway Kinnell

Year 2000
Pages 173

Worth buying if: You value muscular, image-driven lyric poems.

Skip it if: You prefer plot-driven or prose narratives.

Exact edition: Edition shown · ISBN-13 9780618021871. The Amazon link uses this ISBN, so the product page should open to the edition shown here.

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Summary

This 2000 Houghton Mifflin selection presents 173 pages of Galway Kinnell’s major poems, tracing his range from intimate lyric to civic witness with rich imagery and muscular rhythms.

Why this book now

Revisit Kinnell’s influential voice to rediscover how his poems balance personal feeling with public urgency for contemporary readers.

30-second preview

Two quick cards, fifteen seconds each.

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1-sentence hook

A New Selected Poems gathers Galway Kinnell’s hardest-won lines—committed, sensuous, and unsparing—in a single volume.

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Best for readers who...

Good fit if you want...

  • You value muscular, image-driven lyric poems.
  • You want a representative selection of Galway Kinnell’s work.
  • When you want something cozy, the setting creates a distinct emotional tone.

Maybe skip if...

  • You prefer plot-driven or prose narratives.
  • You seek ultra-brief or flash-length poems only.
  • You are specifically hunting for the newest framing rather than a backlist perspective.

Mood / Vibe Tags

meditative earthy earnest urgent Quick read

Decided it fits?

Exact edition: Edition shown · ISBN-13 9780618021871

Worth buying if: You value muscular, image-driven lyric poems.

Skip it if: You prefer plot-driven or prose narratives.

Buy This Edition on Amazon

Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.

Reader guide

Cues to help you decide faster.

Reading commitment

Light Short sit-downs

At 173 pages, expect a sustained poetry reading—best approached slowly, savoring individual poems and revisiting favorites rather than reading straight through in one sitting.

What stands out here

This Houghton Mifflin 2000 selection emphasizes a broad cross-section of Kinnell’s oeuvre, foregrounding both well-known and essential poems in one curated edition.

Best way to approach it

Read single poems aloud to attend to Kinnell’s dense imagery and cadence, and pause between pieces to reflect on recurring themes of body, nature, and social conscience.

Exact edition: ISBN-13 9780618021871

Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.