Poetry Pharmacy

This book is from England. I heard about it from some videos of famous people reading poems from the book. The poems are arranged to ”help” with certain illnesses or conditions like depression or stress. The poems are wonderful. I keep it handy and read and reread one or two poems a week. Never disappointed and always something to think about.

I liked reading this from front to back, but also enjoy seeking out poems that address particular issues. A nice way to reframe my worries or redirect my energies. Wish it were longer.

Serious poetry lovers will perhaps find some of the poems in this collection a bit facile, perhaps even glib, but for most of us the poems fulfill their role of offering comfort, providing thoughtful understanding about the human condition, and offering realistic encouragement and hope. The Table of contents is organized into general categories--Mental and Emotional Wellbeing, Motivations, Self-Image and Self-Acceptance, The World and Other People, and Love and Loss. Within those general categories the poems are further broken down by various states of feeling and personal situations, such as Depression, Fear of the Other, Infatuation, Rocky Relationships, etc... all addressing the different human malaises. As far as layout, a single poem appears on the righthand page while on the opposite page are quite insightful and compassionate remarks by its editor, William Sieghard, related to that particular state or condition. Sieghard is not a psychologist but someone who has spent his life studying poetry and the feelings explored by all kinds of verse through the ages. An Index at the back of the book is arranged alphabetically with the first lines in each poem--standard fare, but there is also an "index of Conditions," also organised alphabetically, ranging from "absurdity of the world, despair at" to "zest for life, loss of." Poems range from the silly or quaint--Celia, Celia--to the heft and sustenance of Keats' famous lines from Endymion. The Poetry Pharmacy is a perfect gift for a loved one who may be going through one of life's crises or long term and abiding distress, for whom the discovery of poetry can offer the comforts of another pathway. Only shortcoming: For very serious readers of poetry there are other books perhaps better adapted to their psychic/intellectual thirst.

A carefully curated collection of poetry that has provided daily comfort and even guidance. Found Sieghart reading this book on YouTube and couldn’t have made it through 2020 without. I prefer this version but also have the American version on audio, as it’s been wonderful to hear Sieghart read and follow along. Most is the same save for an Americanization of some vernacular.

This is a great read, whether you are just wanted to browse some poetry or you have a problem weighing heavy on your mind. It is also really great quality, with a nice sturdy cover. 10/10 for me!

This is a perfect book for times such as these. I love the experience of seeking healing through words. I will be gifting a few of these this year. We all can use use something to build us up, and this book will do it!

The best ever book for poetry readers all levels. Prescriptions for heart, mind and soul!

Read a new poem everyday

Lindo libro lo recomiendo mucho!

I liked the idea of this book
I liked that it was small enough to throw into my purse instead of the other huge anthologies that I have.

He spends the first page before every poem, describing it, which at first really annoyed me. Then, some of the things he had to say were profound, or he was picking up on something in the poem that I didn’t, so I began to like it about halfway through the book.

My biggest problem, though, is if you’re going to have a book of poetry, the poem should be complete and not just a portion of the poem.
It was very annoying, especially in poems that I hadn’t heard before and I had to write out the poem in the book so I won’t be annoyed the next time I read the book.

Can’t even believe that this was a thing as the poems weren’t even that long! They would have fit on the page and I feel that you do the poet a disservice when you cut back their work and you cut back some of the meaning, which, of course may have been his point to focus just on his specific meaning, but I felt that a lot was lost and it was very sad.
It is one thing to take a quote from a newspaper article or a chapter from a book in order to convey a message from an author, but it is complete and utter heresy to cut up a poem.