Is it time for poetry now? Therapeutic potentials—individual and collective

Abstract

Interweaving considerations of effects, both individual and collective, we explore factors contributing to the timing and timeliness of poetry's therapeutic potentials, including timing of the use of poetry within the course of a therapy, timing of the use of poetry within a therapist's practice, and timing of contemporary popular interest in poetry as a reflection of and rejoinder to wider societal trends.

Keywords:

• Poetry
• psychology
• social
• therapeutic

Notes

1. For example, in addition to Mary Oliver's “The Journey”: “Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches” (Oliver, 1997), “Message From Home” (Raine, 2001), “Otherwise” (Kenyon, 1996), “Witness” (Levertov, 1997), and “The Sabbath Poems: 1979–1997” (Berry, 1998).