“I Am” was written by John Clare in 1844 while he was at the Northampton General Lunatic Asylum. Clare suffered from numerous psychological conditions, which…
Like many, when faced with tribulations and life’s numerous problems, Patrick Roche resorts to a creative means of self-expression. He explores healing through a creative…
Theodore Roethke was a celebrated poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry for his book The Waking. Roethke was a heavy drinker and experienced…
Anne Sexton suffered from bipolar depression, and was treated using techniques that would, by today’s standards, be unsound. Her treatment ranged from the use of sodium…
William Blake saw ‘visions’ since a young age – experiences which we might today explain as some type of psychosis. Blake managed to transform these experiences into poetry and…
Laura Burke’s visual poem “Superhero” explains her own struggles with mental illness and all of the havoc that it played on her life. She touches upon themes…
Catalina Ferro’s poetry slam “Anxiety Group” is an excellent portrayal of how the stress of everyday life can contribute to an almost ceaseless state of…
Song, by Allen Ginsberg, is a poetic reflection on the important role of love in our lives. Ginsberg shows how love can be both a…
This timeless poem by renowned poet William Wordsworth may be familiar to many of us from grade school. Its meaning, however, is quite deep, as…
Love After Love is a poem by Derek Walcott, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. The text’s powerful imagery evokes themes of…
