Description
Book Synopsis'
I used to believe that poetry did not speak to me, but I now see how wrong I was. I lived for 44 years with a husband, a lyricist, whose beautifully crafted, heartfelt lyrics touched my every fiber and continue to uplift and inspire me a decade after his death. The special beauty of Dr. Rosenthal's book for me is his discussion of what each poem is saying, what the poet was likely feeling and often how the poems helped him personally, as when he left his birth family in South Africa for a rewarding career in the United States.' -
Jane Brody, Author &
New York Times Columnist
Poetry to Heal, Inspire and EnjoyPoetry Rx presents 50 great poems as seen through the eyes of a renowned psychiatrist and
New York Times bestseller. In this book, you will find insights into love, sorrow, ecstasy and everything in between: Love in the moment or for a lifetime; love that is fulfilling or addictive; when to break up and how to survive when someone breaks up with you.
Separate sections deal with responses to the natural world, and the varieties of human experience (such as hope, reconciliation, leaving home, faith, self-actualization, trauma, anger, and the thrill of discovery). Other sections involve finding your way in the world and the search for meaning, as well as the final stages of life.
In describing this multitude of human experiences, using vignettes from his work and life, Rosenthal serves as a comforting guide to these poetic works of genius. Through his writing, the workings of the mind, as depicted by these gifted writers speak to us as intimately as our closest friends.
Rosenthal also delves into the science of mind and brain. Who would have thought, for example, that listening to poetry can cause people to have goosebumps by activating the reward centers of the brain? Yet research shows that to be true.
And who were these fascinating poets? In a short biosketch that accompanies each poem, Rosenthal draws connections between the poets and their poems that help us understand the enigmatic minds that gave birth to these masterworks. Altogether, a fulfilling and intriguing must-read for anyone interested in poetry, the mind, self-help and genius.
CONTENTSIntroduction
PART ONELoving and Losing
Chapter One
Is There an Art to Losing?
One Art
by Elizabeth BishopChapter Two
Can Love Transform You?
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
by Elizabeth Barrett BrowningChapter Three
The Heart versus the Mind
Pity me not because the light of day
by Edna St. Vincent MillayChapter Four
Love in the Moment
Lullaby
by W. H. AudenChapter Five
When Love Fades
Failing and Flying
by Jack GilbertChapter Six
Getting Over a Breakup I: Acceptance
Why so pale and wan fond lover?
by Sir John SucklingChapter Seven
Getting Over a Breakup II: Reclaiming Yourself
Love after Love
by Derek Walcott,Chapter Eight
Declaring Your Love
Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
by William ShakespeareChapter Nine
Consoled by Love
Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
by William ShakespeareChapter Ten
In Praise of the Marriage of True Minds
Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds
by William ShakespeareChapter Eleven
Loss of a Loved One
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone (Funeral Blues)
by W. H. AudenChapter Twelve
Will I Ever Feel Better?
Time Does Not Bring Relief
by Edna St. Vincent MillayChapter Thirteen
Love Remembered
When You Are Old
by William Butler YeatsChapter Fourteen
Love after Death
Remember
by Christina Rossetti,PART TWO That Inward Eye
Chapter Fifteen
Transcendence in Nature
Daffodils
by William WordsworthChapter Sixteen
The Memory of Daffodils
Miracle on St. David's Day
by Gillian ClarkeChapter Seventeen
Transcendence in Body and Mind
Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey (excerpt)
by William WordsworthChapter Eighteen
The Power of Dark and Light
There's a certain Slant of light
by Emily DickinsonChapter Nineteen
In Praise of Diversity
Pied Beauty
by Gerard Manley HopkinsChapter Twenty
A Plea to Save the Natural World
Inversnaid
by Gerard Manley HopkinsChapter Twenty-One
The Importance of Being Needed
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert FrostChapter Twenty-Two
The Choices We Make
The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost Chapter Twenty-Three
The Force of Longing
Sea Fever
by John MasefieldChapter Twenty-Four
Finding Hope in Nature
The Darkling Thrush
by Thomas HardyPART THREEThe Human Experience
Chapter Twenty-Five The Power of Hope
Hope is the thing with feathers
by Emily DickinsonChapter Twenty-Six
Welcoming Your Emotions
The Guest House
by Jalaluddin Rumi Translated by Coleman Barks
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Healing Power of Reconciliation
Out beyond Ideas
by Jalaluddin Rumi (Translated by Coleman Barks)
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Leaving Home
Traveler, there is no road
by Antonio Machado Translated by Mary G. Berg and Dennis Maloney
Chapter Twenty-Nine
And Those You Leave Behind
Letter to My Mother
by Salvatore Quasimodo Translated by Jack Bevan
Chapter Thirty
The Importance of Self-Actualization
On His Blindness
by John MiltonChapter Thirty-One
The Power of Faith
Psalm 23
A Psalm of DavidChapter Thirty-Two
The Thrill of Discovery
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer
by John KeatsChapter Thirty-Three
The Enduring Thrill of the Moment
High Flight
by John Gillespie Magee JrChapter Thirty-Four
The Long Reach of Trauma
The Sentence
by Anna Akhmatova Translated by Judith Hemschemeyer
Chapter Thirty-Five
The Danger of Anger
A Poison Tree
by William BlakePART FOURA Design for Living and the Search for Meaning
Chapter Thirty-Six
Principles for a Good Life
Polonius' Advice to Laertes
by William ShakespeareChapter Thirty-Seven
Remaining Steady through Life's Ups and Downs
If
by Rudyard KiplingChapter Thirty-Eight
Never Give Up
Invictus
by William Ernest HenleyChapter Thirty-Nine
Putting One Foot in Front of the Other
The Waking
by Theodore RoethkeChapter Forty
Should You React or Proact?
Waiting for the Barbarians
by Constantine CavafyTranslated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard
Chapter Forty-One
It's the Journey That Matters
Ithaka
by Constantine Cavafy Translated by Edmund Keeley
Chapter Forty-Two
Hold On to Your Dreams
Dreams
by Langston HughesPART FIVEInto the Night
Chapter Forty-Three
Should You Just Go for It?
An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
by William Butler YeatsChapter Forty-Four
Or Should You Be Careful?
Musée des Beaux Arts
by W. H. AudenChapter Forty-Five
Dying Too Soon
We Real Cool
by Gwendolyn BrooksChapter Forty-Six
Aging by Degrees
I Know I Am Getting Old
by Wendell BerryChapter Forty-Seven
The Critical Importance of Communication
Not Waving but Drowning
by Stevie SmithChapter Forty-Eight
Should You Rage?
Do not go gentle into that good night
by Dylan ThomasChapter Forty-Nine
Or Is it Time to Go Gently?
Because I could not stop for Death
by Emily DickinsonChapter Fifty
I Did Not Die!
Do not stand at my grave and weep
by Mary Elizabeth FryeA Few Last Thoughts
Source Materials and Further Reading
Permissions
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Author
INTRODUCTIONYou may well wonder how I, a psychiatrist with no formal literary credentials, have chosen to write about the power of poetry to heal, inspire, and bring joy to people. It all started with a single phone call that came in late one night.
The caller was my friend David, and I knew immediately by the tone of his voice that something was wrong. He choked up as he told me that he had recently lost someone very dear to him. How can I go on? he mused. How will I manage?
Clichés and generalities readily come to mind in such situations, but I searched for something specific to say, something that might actually help. Recognizing that David is a person steeped in the arts, I said, There is an art to losing, and like all art, it can be developed.
He was silent for a while, and when he spoke again, his voice sounded more cheerful, as though he had tapped into some hidden source of hope.
. Do you know the poem One Art' by Elizabeth Bishop? he asked.
I told him no.
Well, let me read it to you, and he began: The art of losing isn't hard to master.'
As he read on, his voice gathered strength and energy with each stanza. Afterwards his mood was lighterand strangely, so was mine.
. Can a poem really help a grieving person? I wondered, and if so, might other poems also have healing powers? I marveled also at how David had reached into the depths of his grief and presented me with a gifta poem that offered me a fresh perspective on how to help someone out of the darkness that can engulf you when you lose someone you love. I shared the poem with patients and friends, many of whom found comfort in its words, and looked for o
