Poetry As Healer: Mending the Troubled Mind

by Jack J. Leedy (Editor)

“Since the rise to prominence during the late 1950s and early 1960s of the Confessional school of poetry (headed by Lowell, Plath, and Sexton, whose plagues of mental problems and suicides are now part and parcel of literary history), poetry-as-therapy has been a potent, if often misallied, force that has gradually attracted adherents. Practicing psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and psychiatric social workers have contributed essays – some highly theoretical, others far less so – to this collection, covering the why, how, and where of poetry therapy. In addition to the writings of patients, works by renowned poets from Shakespeare to Yeats are used to illustrate the therapeutic relationship of poetry to medicine, as the authors show how the reading of poetry’s masterpieces can be as beneficial to patients as the actual writing of poetry. Recommended for a highly select but growing audience.” The Booklist of the American Library Association

308 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Mobill76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't an anthology. It's a collection of mental health articles. But sometimes the examples from unidentified patients are more than just illustrative.

Experience

Remember
The bright sunsets in the bamboo of your youth
When you sang
Against the shouting of the wind?
Then you were a hollow reed
Easily broken,
Now that you've become a tree
Filled with substance,
You understand so well
The beauty of the sunset
But you don't sing anymore.