{"product_id":"poetryrx","title":"Poetryrx","description":"\"\u003ci\u003eI 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.\u003c\/i\u003e\" - \u003cb\u003eJane Brody\u003c\/b\u003e, Author \u0026amp; \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Columnist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePoetry to Heal, Inspire and Enjoy\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePoetry Rx\u003c\/i\u003e presents 50 great poems as seen through the eyes of a renowned psychiatrist and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSeparate 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRosenthal 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCONTENTS\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePART ONE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLoving and Losing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter One\u003cbr\u003eIs There an Art to Losing?\u003cbr\u003eOne Art \u003ci\u003eby Elizabeth Bishop\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Two\u003cbr\u003eCan Love Transform You?\u003cbr\u003eHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways \u003ci\u003eby Elizabeth Barrett Browning\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Three\u003cbr\u003eThe Heart versus the Mind\u003cbr\u003ePity me not because the light of day\u003ci\u003eby Edna St. Vincent Millay\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Four\u003cbr\u003eLove in the Moment\u003cbr\u003eLullaby \u003ci\u003eby W. H. Auden\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Five\u003cbr\u003eWhen Love Fades\u003cbr\u003eFailing and Flying\u003ci\u003eby Jack Gilbert\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Six\u003cbr\u003eGetting Over a Breakup I: Acceptance\u003cbr\u003eWhy so pale and wan fond lover?\u003ci\u003eby Sir John Suckling\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Seven\u003cbr\u003eGetting Over a Breakup II: Reclaiming Yourself\u003cbr\u003eLove after Love \u003ci\u003eby Derek Walcott,\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Eight\u003cbr\u003eDeclaring Your Love\u003cbr\u003eSonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? \u003ci\u003eby William Shakespeare\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Nine\u003cbr\u003eConsoled by Love\u003cbr\u003eSonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes \u003ci\u003eby William Shakespeare\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Ten\u003cbr\u003eIn Praise of the Marriage of True Minds\u003cbr\u003eSonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds \u003ci\u003eby William Shakespeare\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Eleven\u003cbr\u003eLoss of a Loved One\u003cbr\u003eStop all the clocks, cut off the telephone (Funeral Blues) \u003ci\u003eby W. H. Auden\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Twelve\u003cbr\u003eWill I Ever Feel Better? \u003cbr\u003eTime Does Not Bring Relief \u003ci\u003eby Edna St. Vincent Millay\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Thirteen\u003cbr\u003eLove Remembered\u003cbr\u003eWhen You Are Old \u003ci\u003eby William Butler Yeats\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Fourteen\u003cbr\u003eLove after Death\u003cbr\u003eRemember \u003ci\u003eby Christina Rossetti,\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePART TWO \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat Inward Eye\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Fifteen\u003cbr\u003eTranscendence in Nature\u003cbr\u003eDaffodils \u003ci\u003eby William Wordsworth\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Sixteen\u003cbr\u003eThe Memory of Daffodils\u003cbr\u003eMiracle on St. David’s Day \u003ci\u003eby Gillian Clarke\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Seventeen\u003cbr\u003eTranscendence in Body and Mind\u003cbr\u003eLines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey (excerpt) \u003ci\u003eby William Wordsworth\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Eighteen\u003cbr\u003eThe Power of Dark and Light\u003cbr\u003eThere’s a certain Slant of light \u003ci\u003eby Emily Dickinson\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Nineteen\u003cbr\u003eIn Praise of Diversity\u003cbr\u003ePied Beauty \u003ci\u003eby Gerard Manley Hopkins\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Twenty\u003cbr\u003eA Plea to Save the Natural World\u003cbr\u003eInversnaid \u003ci\u003eby Gerard Manley Hopkins\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Twenty-One\u003cbr\u003eThe Importance of Being Needed\u003cbr\u003eStopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening \u003ci\u003eby Robert Frost\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Twenty-Two\u003cbr\u003eThe Choices We Make\u003cbr\u003eThe Road Not Taken\u003ci\u003eby Robert Frost \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Twenty-Three\u003cbr\u003eThe Force of Longing\u003cbr\u003eSea Fever\u003ci\u003eby John Masefield\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Twenty-Four\u003cbr\u003eFinding Hope in Nature\u003cbr\u003eThe Darkling Thrush \u003ci\u003eby Thomas Hardy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePART THREE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Human Experience\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Twenty-Five The Power of Hope\u003cbr\u003e “Hope” is the thing with feathers \u003ci\u003eby Emily Dickinson\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Twenty-Six\u003cbr\u003eWelcoming Your Emotions\u003cbr\u003eThe Guest House \u003ci\u003eby Jalaluddin Rumi\u003c\/i\u003e Translated by Coleman Barks \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Twenty-Seven\u003cbr\u003eThe Healing Power of Reconciliation\u003cbr\u003eOut beyond Ideas \u003ci\u003eby Jalaluddin Rumi\u003c\/i\u003e (Translated by Coleman Barks) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Twenty-Eight\u003cbr\u003eLeaving Home\u003cbr\u003eTraveler, there is no road \u003ci\u003eby Antonio Machado\u003c\/i\u003e Translated by Mary G. Berg and Dennis Maloney\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Twenty-Nine\u003cbr\u003eAnd Those You Leave Behind\u003cbr\u003eLetter to My Mother \u003ci\u003eby Salvatore Quasimodo\u003c\/i\u003e Translated by Jack Bevan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Thirty\u003cbr\u003eThe Importance of Self-Actualization\u003cbr\u003eOn His Blindness \u003ci\u003eby John Milton\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Thirty-One\u003cbr\u003eThe Power of Faith\u003cbr\u003ePsalm 23\u003ci\u003eA Psalm of David\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Thirty-Two\u003cbr\u003eThe Thrill of Discovery\u003cbr\u003eOn First Looking into Chapman’s Homer \u003ci\u003eby John Keats\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Thirty-Three\u003cbr\u003eThe Enduring Thrill of the Moment\u003cbr\u003eHigh Flight \u003ci\u003eby John Gillespie Magee Jr\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Thirty-Four\u003cbr\u003eThe Long Reach of Trauma\u003cbr\u003eThe Sentence \u003ci\u003eby Anna Akhmatova\u003c\/i\u003e Translated by Judith Hemschemeyer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Thirty-Five\u003cbr\u003eThe Danger of Anger\u003cbr\u003eA Poison Tree \u003ci\u003eby William Blake\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePART FOUR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Design for Living and the Search for Meaning\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Thirty-Six\u003cbr\u003ePrinciples for a Good Life\u003cbr\u003ePolonius’ Advice to Laertes\u003ci\u003eby William Shakespeare\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Thirty-Seven\u003cbr\u003eRemaining Steady through Life’s Ups and Downs\u003cbr\u003eIf \u003ci\u003eby Rudyard Kipling\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Thirty-Eight\u003cbr\u003eNever Give Up\u003cbr\u003eInvictus \u003ci\u003eby William Ernest Henley\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Thirty-Nine\u003cbr\u003ePutting One Foot in Front of the Other\u003cbr\u003eThe Waking \u003ci\u003eby Theodore Roethke\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Forty\u003cbr\u003eShould You React or Proact? \u003cbr\u003eWaiting for the Barbarians\u003ci\u003eby Constantine Cavafy\u003c\/i\u003eTranslated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Forty-One\u003cbr\u003eIt’s the Journey That Matters\u003cbr\u003eIthaka \u003ci\u003eby Constantine Cavafy\u003c\/i\u003e Translated by Edmund Keeley\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Forty-Two\u003cbr\u003eHold On to Your Dreams\u003cbr\u003eDreams \u003ci\u003eby Langston Hughes\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePART FIVE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInto the Night\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Forty-Three\u003cbr\u003eShould You Just Go for It?\u003cbr\u003eAn Irish Airman Foresees His Death \u003ci\u003eby William Butler Yeats\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Forty-Four\u003cbr\u003eOr Should You Be Careful? \u003cbr\u003eMusée des Beaux Arts \u003ci\u003eby W. H. Auden\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Forty-Five\u003cbr\u003eDying Too Soon\u003cbr\u003eWe Real Cool \u003ci\u003eby Gwendolyn Brooks\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Forty-Six\u003cbr\u003eAging by Degrees\u003cbr\u003eI Know I Am Getting Old \u003ci\u003eby Wendell Berry\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Forty-Seven\u003cbr\u003eThe Critical Importance of Communication\u003cbr\u003eNot Waving but Drowning \u003ci\u003eby Stevie Smith\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Forty-Eight\u003cbr\u003eShould You Rage? \u003cbr\u003eDo not go gentle into that good night \u003ci\u003eby Dylan Thomas\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Forty-Nine\u003cbr\u003eOr Is it Time to Go Gently?\u003cbr\u003e Because I could not stop for Death \u003ci\u003eby Emily Dickinson\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter Fifty\u003cbr\u003eI Did Not Die!\u003cbr\u003eDo not stand at my grave and weep \u003ci\u003eby Mary Elizabeth Frye\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Few Last Thoughts\u003cbr\u003eSource Materials and Further Reading\u003cbr\u003ePermissions\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003cbr\u003eAbout the Author\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eINTRODUCTION\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou 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.\u003cbr\u003e   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?”\u003cbr\u003e   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.” \u003cbr\u003e   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. \u003cbr\u003e.  “Do you know the poem ‘One Art’ by Elizabeth Bishop?” he asked. \u003cbr\u003e   I told him no. \u003cbr\u003e   “Well, let me read it to you,” and he began: “‘The art of losing isn’t hard to master.’” \u003cbr\u003e   As he read on, his voice gathered strength and energy with each stanza. Afterwards his mood was lighter—and strangely, so was mine. \u003cbr\u003e.  “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 gift—a 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 other poems that might have similar effects.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnce I started looking, I found such poems everywhere. One friend, a therapist, had been so moved by a poem about aging by Wendell Berry that she had given copies of it to patients (It’s in chapter 46 in this collection). I bolstered my promising findings with Internet reports of comfort and relief in response to particular poems.\u003cbr\u003e   The idea of this book is that poetry can not only inspire and delight, but can actually help you feel better, soothe your pain, and heal psychological wounds. In short, as the book’s title suggests, poetry can act as a kind of medicine.\u003cbr\u003e   Although all literature can console, there is something about great poetry—its rhythms and cadences, its conciseness and brilliance—that has a power and charm all its own. One way in which poetry exerts its effect is that it is easier to remember, recall, and reproduce at will. We can at a moment’s notice dip into our memory and conjure up Wordsworth’s daffodils or Keats’ nightingale. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Poems\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fifty gemlike poems in this collection have all stood the test of time and appear in published anthologies. They are all relatively short, most fitting on a single page. In their conciseness they deliver their messages in the most efficient, effective, and beautiful way possible. \u003cbr\u003e   Friends, patients, and I have all enjoyed and benefited from some or all of these verses. I hope you might find the same healing power and joy from them as we have.\u003cbr\u003e   The collection is divided into five sections, each covering an area important for a good and happy life: (1) loving and losing; (2) responses to nature; (3) aspects of the human experience; (4) a design for living and the search for meaning; and (5) the last phase of life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow to Get the Most out of a Poem\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough reading a poem seems like a very straightforward activity, it can be greatly enriched by a few simple tricks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRemember to enjoy the poem.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt should be fun, not work!\u003cbr\u003eActively engage with the poem.\u003cbr\u003eGive it your full attention, and it will reward you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRead it aloud.\u003c\/b\u003e That way you can enjoy the music in the words. Also, vocalizing the words involves different sets of nerves and muscles and different parts of the brain compared to reading it silently. Therefore it will create a different experience. But most importantly, reading a poem aloud deepens its therapeutic potential.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRead the poem more than once.\u003c\/b\u003e One mysterious aspect of a poem is how successive readings reveal new layers of meaning. How strange! After all, the lines are right there on the page. When you read them the first time, they may seem perfectly clear. How, then, can they still yield new insights and rewards when you revisit them? Try it and see for yourself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eExperience the poem with all of your senses.\u003c\/b\u003e A poem is no more a purely intellectual experience than a song or a painting or a spoonful of ice cream. For an example of a poem that engages all your senses, look at “Sea Fever“ (chapter 23).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAs the reader, you complete the poem,\u003c\/b\u003e in the process bringing your past experiences into the collaboration between you and the poet. At the moment of completion, it may feel as if the pieces of a puzzle are falling together. You may delight in the aha! moment as you think, “So that’s what the poet meant!” Allow yourself to experience the wonder a poem provides when it opens up new spaces in which your mind can roam.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eListen to others reading the poem.\u003c\/b\u003e Many of the poems in this collection are read aloud online by talented women and men, and can be found on the Internet. One outstanding example is the sonnet “Pity me not because the light of day” (chapter 3), which is beautifully read by its author, Edna St. Vincent Millay. Neuroscientist Eugen Wassiliwizky and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute in Frankfurt have found that recited poetry can be a powerful stimulus for eliciting peak emotional responses such as chills and goosebumps, by activating the brain’s reward circuitry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTolerate—and even savor—ambiguity of feeling and thought.\u003c\/b\u003e Be intrigued by what you don’t immediately understand. There is such a thing as creative reading as well as creative writing. Often in poems, circuits are not completed, ideas are left unfinished or equivocal. This is not accidental. The unfinished business may serve as a focus of continued puzzlement, a brain teaser lingering in the mind, begging for a solution. Some experimental data suggest that people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed ones (the so-­called Zeigarnik effect). So it may be that by presenting the reader with unfinished ideas, the poet creates a more memorable and indelible work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePay attention to details.\u003c\/b\u003e Punctuation, the separation of lines, their placement on the page, form, rhythm, and rhyme, as well as the white space that helps give the poem its shape, may all be part of what the poet is trying to communicate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRemember, when reading a poem, it is your interpretation rather than mine or anyone else’s that is most important. As Dee Snider from the band Twisted Sister said, “The beauty of literature, poetry, and music is that they leave room for the audience to put its own imagination, experiences, and dreams into the words.” So any interpretations I offer are mine alone; I encourage you to differ.\u003cbr\u003e   And most of all, have fun engaging with these beautiful and ingenious creations.","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57310138696062,"sku":"NW9781722505066","price":18.09,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9781722505066.jpg?v=1778512554","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/poetryrx","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}