Jane Kenyon's Depression

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The National Institute of Mental Health reported that in 2014, about 15.7 million US adults over the age of eighteen suffered from depression at least once in the past year. Jane Kenyon, an American poet laureate, is one of many people who suffered from depression during her lifetime. While dealing with her depression, Kenyon wrote. She wrote many lengthy poems about how she dealt with her depression and how it affected her life. Jane Kenyon was born on May 23, 1947 in Ann Arbor Michigan (Poetry Foundation,Jane Kenyon ) and died on April 23, 1995 of leukemia (Jane Kenyon). During the same year she passed away, she became the New Hampshire poet laureate. She went to the University of Michigan where she met her husband Donald Hall. …show more content…

The definition of depression is an illness that causes feelings of sadness and loss of interest that last for many days. In a study from 2014 the National Institute of Mental Health found that about 15.7 million us adults over the age of 18 suffered depression at least once in the past year. The study also showed that there were more women who suffered from depression than men. No one knows the exact cause of depression, but some possible causes are stressful events, childhood trauma, and biological changes. It appears that some depression is even hereditary. The symptoms of depression include a sad or depressed mood or a marked lack of interest and pleasure in almost all activities for most of the day, nearly every day for at least two weeks. Some other symptoms of depression include loss of appetite, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, lack of concentration, thoughts of death, often including suicidal thoughts, plans, or a suicide attempt, headaches, stomach aches, or pains anywhere in the body (Depression). Like many other Americans Jane Kenyon suffered from depression. In a letter I received from Kenyon’s husband he said “Jane did have a good psychiatrist who prescribed medicines and helped her. Mostly she was able to work. There were times when she could do nothing but lie in …show more content…

In a set of poems that she wrote, she started at the beginning of her battle saying “When I was born, you waited/ behind a pile of linen in the nursery,/ and when we were alone, you lay down/ on top of me, pressing/ the bile of desolation into every pore.” (From The Nursery), which tells us that her battle with depression started when she was a young child. She then goes on to say “And from that day on/ everything under the sun and moon/ made me sad -- even the yellow / wooden beads / that slid and spun / along a spindle on my crib.” telling us that from the first time she felt this great sadness and then on felt a constant sadness in her life. This is only the beginning though, she continues in this set of poems to describe her battle with depression as she got older and time went

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