"The Healing Power of Poetry"
The devastations and repercussions of war are inimitable, and can sometimes be left unhealed. However, men and women have had to find cures to lick their wounds and resettle the turbulence existing within their minds. In Pat Barker's emotionally powerful war novel Regeneration, we are introduced to a war journal, called the Hydra, on page 84, which served as healing tool for WWI soldiers. This journal contained articles, cartoons, poetry, letters, and all kinds of other different types of writing. Barker uses the Hydra in her novel to mark the healing power of writing in the lives of these men.
Poetry therapy has a long history, being recognized as far back as the first songs chanted around the camp-fires of primitive people. To these people, the chant is what heals the heart and soul. In the English language, the word "therapy" comes from the Greek word "therapeia," which means to nurse or cure through expressive arts such as dance, song, poem and drama. The Greeks have also informed us that Asclepius, the god of healing, was the son of Apollo, the god of poetry, medicine and the historical arts (Longo). In addition, mythological beliefs say that Oceanus told Promethus that "words are the physician of the mind diseased." The use of poetry therapy has therefore been discovered by numerous cultures since the beginning of language (Longo).
Once recognized for its healing power, this therapy quickly moved to the North American continent. Within the American colonies, the first American hospital to care for the mentally ill was founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin, called the Pennsylvania Hospital. This hospital is known to have included reading, writing, and then also the actual publishing of...
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...f writing to these men. Not only does it convey the effects of writing, it may also project the idea that reading poetry may also be just as therapeutic. Poetry therapy is not a theme that people would generally relate to the cure of barbaric men at war, which is indeed what makes this novel so brilliant. Soldiers too have a sensitive side, and Barker has proven to acknowledge and praise it.
Works Cited
Barker, Pat. Regeneration. New York: Plume, 1993.
Lee, Stuart. "The Hydra." HTML JTAP Virtual Seminars Project. April 1998. 8 April 2004. <http://www.hcu.ox.ac.uk/jtap/hydra>
Longo, Perie J. "Poetry as Therapy." Sanctuary House of Santa Barbara, Inc., 1996-2003. 13 April 2004. <http://www.spcsb.org/advoc/poetrytx.html>
Rusche, Harry. "Lost Poets of the Great War." Emory University, 1997. 3 May 2004.
<http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/LostPoets/>
Many soldiers who come back from the war need to express how they feel. Many do it in the way of writing. Many soldiers die in war, but the ones who come back are just as “dead.” Many cadets come back with shell shock, amputated arms and legs, and sometimes even their friends aren’t there with them. So during World War I, there was a burst of new art and writings come from the soldiers. Many express in the way of books, poems, short stories and art itself. Most soldiers are just trying to escape. A lot of these soldiers are trying to show what war is really like, and people respond. They finally might think war might not be the answer. This is why writers use imagery, irony and structure to protest war.
Brian Turner's "The Hurt Locker" captures his personal and painful experiences during his time spent in war and furthermore, express the tragic events he witnessed. Brian Turner's poem is miraculously able to gather multiple first hand accounts of tragic, gory, and devastating moments inside a war zone and project them on to a piece of paper for all to read. He allows the audience of his work to partially understand what hell he himself and all combat veterans have endured. Although heartbreaking, it is a privilege to be taken inside "The Hurt Locker" of a man who saw too many things that should not ever be witnessed by anybody. Turner's words bring to life what many have buried deep inside them which subsequently is one of the major underlying problems facing combat veterans today. Reading this poem, I could not help but wonder what the long term effects of war are on a human being, if it is worth the pain, and how does a combat veteran function properly in a society that is unfamiliar with their experiences?
Hagen W (2012). ‘German History in Modern Times: Four Lives of the Nation’. Published by Cambridge University Press (13 Feb 2012)
As medical advances are being made, it makes the treating of diseases easier and easier. Mental hospitals have changed the way the treat a patient’s illness considerably compared to the hospital described in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Until 1851, the first state mental hospital was built and there was only one physician on staff responsible for the medical, moral and physical treatment of each inmate. Who had said "Violent hands shall never be laid on a patient, under any provocation." This improved the treatment of patients but the mentally ill that weren't in this asylum may have
During times of war, man is exposed to the most gruesome aspects of life such as death, starvation, and imprisonment. In some cases, the aftermath is even more disastrous, causing posttraumatic stress disorder, constant guilt, as well as physical and mental scarring, but these struggles are not the only things that humans can take away from the experience. War can bring out the appreciation of the little things in life, such as the safety people take for granted, the beauty of nature, and the kindness of others. These universal consequences of fighting all contribute to what war is really capable of doing, sometimes bringing out the best and worst in people, and constantly shaping society. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien goes through this himself when he writes about setting up base camp in the Vietnamese pagoda, the return to site of Kiowa’s death, the story about the old poppa-san guide, and Mitchell Sanders’ “moment of peace”. When O’Brien includes these stories, it is not to insert joy into a tragedy, but rather to create a more wholesome and authentic feel into a tough, realistic war story. O’Brien’s’ “sweet” stories are there to show the hope he had during war, and also serve as a universal example that even in the darkest tunnels, it is always possible to find rays of light.
Tim O’Brien is an accredited writer who writes mostly about war. Although, I can conclude that Tim O’ Brien is different from other war writers because he brings war stories to life. O’ Brien does not explain the strategies of the war, he describes the guys that he fought amongst in the war. His novel, “The Things They Carried” is an emotional retelling of the Vietnam War. He allows readers to experience the thoughts, feelings, and conflicts of the characters throughout the book. By allowing readers to experience the character’s moods, readers are able to relate to the characters through their own memories, thoughts, and feelings. I related to many of his stories, especially, “On A Rainy River”, “Stockings”, and “The Things They Carried.” Throughout this paper, I will express my reflection of the short stories, “On A Rainy River”, “Stockings”, and “The Things They Carried.”
The Songerweg emphasizes the particular model of history that Germany, unlike other Western countries, has gone through. Specifically, ‘proponents of this concept emphasize the peculiarities of German history, such as political institutions, social structures, or mentalities and experience, usually in comparison with other Western countries, to demonstrate the unique course of German history’ (Buse & Doerr, 1998, p. 934). Although initially the theory of Sonderweg viewed the characteristics of German historical development as positive, the situation has changed after the World War II. Specifically, in the 19th and early 20th centuries historians applied the Sonderweg model to stress a focus on the role of strong central state and military as the driving force of the development of the country (Buse & Doerr, 1998). In addition to this, historians regarded social reforms in Germany that were made from ‘above’ rather than being the outcomes of revolution to be a positive feature that depicted German state in a favorable way. Finally, the historical school viewed the course of German industrialization and culture as superior to similar processed in the rest of Western European
Mental illness has been around as long as people have been. However, the movement really started in the 19th century during industrialization. The Western countries saw an immense increase in the number and size of insane asylums, during what was known as “the great confinement” or the “asylum era” (Torrey, Stieber, Ezekiel, Wolfe, Sharfstein, Noble, Flynn Criminalizing the Seriously Mentally Ill). Laws were starting to be made to pressure authorities to face the people who were deemed insane by family members and hospital administrators. Because of the overpopulation in the institutions, treatment became more impersonal and had a complex mix of mental and social-economic problems. During this time the term “psychiatry” was identified as the medical specialty for the people who had the job as asylum superintendents. These superintendents assumed managerial roles in asylums for people who were considered “alienated” from society; people with less serious conditions wer...
Being forced into a war he has no interest in, Tim O’brien recounts his time fighting in the vietnam war. Many of the soldiers there carried things deep to their hearts. Others carried fear, guilt, and despair of what they had done and what was to come. These physical things were a way these soldiers could cope with their feelings and try and stay sane during these times. “Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey.”(1) These letters were coping mechanisms for Jimmy and he read them when he needed comforting or just to read them to help him forget.
“War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead,” (80). In the fiction novel The Things They Carried, the author Tim O’Brien reminisces fighting in the Vietnam War and the aftermath of the war with his platoon mates through short stories and memories. He goes in depth about the emotional trauma and physical battles they face, what they carry, and how Vietnam and war has changed them forever. O’Brien’s stories describe the harsh nature of the Vietnam War, and how it causes soldiers to lose their innocence, to become guilt-ridden and regretful, and to transform into a paranoid shell of who they were before the war.
[6] Holborn, Halo. A History of Modern Germany. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969. p. 277-280.
Berghahn, Volker R.. Germany and the approach of war in 1914. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1973.
Drugs cause an overall disturbance in a subjects’ physiological, psychological and emotional health. “At the individual level, drug abuse creates health hazards for the user, affecting the educational and general development of youths in particular” (“Fresh Challenge”). In youth specifically, drug abuse can be triggered by factors such as: a parent’s abusive behavior, poor social skills, family history of alcoholism or substance abuse, the divorce of parents or guardians, poverty, the death of a loved one, or even because they are being bullied at school (“Drugs, brains, and behavior”) .
O’Brien’s unique verisimilitude writing style fills the novel with deep meaning and emotion. Analyzing the novel through a psychological lens only adds to its allure. Understanding why characters act the way they do helps bring this novel to life. The reader begins to empathize with the characters. Every day, the soldiers’ lives hang in the balance. How these soldiers react to life-threatening situations will inspire the reader. Life has an expiration date. Reading about people who are held captive by their minds and who die in the name of war, will inspire the reader to live everyday as if they are currently in the