research articles about poetry

Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn: poetic inquiry within health professions education

• A Qualitative Space
• Open access
• Published: 01 September 2021
• Volume 10 , pages 257–264, ( 2021 )

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• Megan E. L. Brown   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9334-0922 1 , 2 ,
• Martina Kelly   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8763-7092 3 &
• Gabrielle M. Finn   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0419-694X 1 , 4  

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Qualitative inquiry is increasingly popular in health professions education, and there has been a move to solidify processes of analysis to demystify the practice and increase rigour. Whilst important, being bound too heavily by methodological processes potentially represses the imaginative creativity of qualitative expression and interpretation—traditional cornerstones of the approach. Rigid adherence to analytic steps risks leaving no time or space for moments of ‘wonder’ or emotional responses which facilitate rich engagement. Poetic inquiry, defined as research which uses poetry ‘as, in, [or] for inquiry’, offers ways to encourage creativity and deep engagement with qualitative data within health professions education. Poetic inquiry attends carefully to participant language, can deepen researcher reflexivity, may increase the emotive impact of research, and promotes an efficiency of qualitative expression through the use of ‘razor sharp’ language. This A Qualitative Space paper introduces the approach by outlining how it may be applied to inquiry within health professions education. Approaches to engaging with poetic inquiry are discussed and illustrated using examples from the field’s scholarship. Finally, recommendations for interested researchers on how to engage with poetic inquiry are made, including suggestions as to how to poetize existing qualitative research practices.

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A Qualitative Space highlights research approaches that push readers and scholars deeper into qualitative methods and methodologies. Contributors to A Qualitative Space may: advance new ideas about qualitative methodologies, methods, and/or techniques; debate current and historical trends in qualitative research; craft and share nuanced reflections on how data collection methods should be revised or modified; reflect on the epistemological bases of qualitative research; or argue that some qualitative practices should end. Share your thoughts on Twitter using the hashtag: #aqualspace.

Introduction

“Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn” Thomas Gray

Poetry is a vehicle for human meaning making. It is part of everyday life which, if you look, you’ll find in advertisements, music, even sports cheers. It is not a modern fascination—indeed, poetry likely predates written text [ 1 ]. Before humans documented their experiences in a written format, poetry was an integral part of communities’ oral cultures, used to pass knowledge, history, and stories between generations [ 2 ]. Poems condense human experience, and when this experience speaks to you in some way, poetry feels meaningful and important [ 3 ]. Given the innate resonance of poetry to the human condition, poems feature within higher education, too. Within health professions education (HPE), poems have been most typically integrated into curricula within medical humanities modules as a way of centering patient narratives, engendering empathy amongst trainees, and facilitating reflective practice [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Several medical and medical humanities journals publish authors’ poems as arts contributions, demonstrating an appetite for poetry as a creative outlet in HPE. Yet, despite the pertinence of poetry to human experience, poetry as a form of research has not been a central topic of HPE conversation. In this article we introduce readers to poetic inquiry and its potential to expand qualitative research within HPE. We start by offering a broad definition of poetic inquiry, consider why it is both necessary and well suited to the field, and situate our exploration within phenomenology. We then progress to outline some approaches to engaging with poetic inquiry and illustrate these approaches using examples from HPE scholarship. Finally, we invite interested readers to consider ways in which they could engage with poetic inquiry, or to consider ways in which they could poetize their existing qualitative research practices.

What is poetic inquiry?

Poetic inquiry is an arts-based research methodology which treats poetry as a ‘vital way to express and learn’ by incorporating original poetry into academic research [ 7 , 8 ]. Though there is no consensus definition, ‘the key feature of poetic inquiry is the use of poetry as, in , [or] for inquiry’ [ 9 ], with poetic inquiry employed in diverse ways by researchers to collect data, collect field notes, and represent and reinterpret data [ 7 ]. The approach is gaining traction in many social science disciplines, including sociology, psychology, anthropology, and education [ 10 ]. Reasons for the use of poetic inquiry include preservation of participant voice [ 7 ], to explore the relationship between language and meaning [ 11 , 12 ], to deepen researcher reflexivity [ 13 ], and to increase the emotive impact and accessibility of academic research [ 14 ] as poetic inquiry can help both researchers and audiences engage more deeply with participant accounts [ 15 ]. Additionally, through its attention to language, poetic inquiry is a rigorous approach—it allows ‘thoughts [to] breathe’—whilst also promoting an emotive efficiency of qualitative expression which helps ‘words [to] burn’. Yet, despite the benefits poetic inquiry can offer qualitative research, it has not received the same degree of focus or enthusiasm within HPE.

Why do we need poetic inquiry?

Creative deviation from specific analytic qualitative processes is not the norm within HPE. Though approaches such as phenomenology, which seeks to represent the rich and complex nature of participants’ lived experiences [ 16 ], are becoming increasingly important within HPE, there has been a move to solidify processes of analysis to demystify the practice, and so increase rigor [ 17 ]. Whilst an important consideration, we believe the pendulum of data analysis is in danger of swinging too far—from openness to fixity—and qualitative research is at risk of stagnating. Several scholars have noted that qualitative inquiry often tends towards the descriptive, with deep thought regarding the connections between data, and the meaning of these connections wanting [ 17 , 18 ]. Such deep thought is necessary for approaches which seek to represent the complexity of experiences, such as within interpretative phenomenology [ 19 ]. Others have argued that servile adherence to one’s data through a rigid set of analytic steps leaves no time or space for moments of ‘wonder’, surprise, or the emotional responses of the researcher that facilitate rich engagement and interpretation [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Being bound too heavily by methodological processes represses the imaginative creativity of qualitative expression and interpretation that has traditionally been a cornerstone of the approach [ 23 , 24 ]. As we amass increasing levels of knowledge regarding topics such as professional identity formation within HPE, rich, creative qualitative exploration is necessary to advance scholarship in the field and expand understanding regarding the nuances of the process. New ways of scrutinizing old problems may also help further knowledge [ 25 ]. We propose that poetry through the medium of poetic inquiry may offer one way in which to restore creativity and deep engagement with qualitative data to qualitative inquiry within medical education.

Poetic inquiry as part of phenomenological inquiry

As an approach, poetic inquiry is broad and diverse. Scholars have situated their engagement with poetic inquiry within a variety of different qualitative traditions such as phenomenology [ 26 ], participatory action research [ 27 ], ethnography [ 28 ], narrative inquiry [ 29 ] and performative inquiry [ 30 ]. We suggest that, within HPE research, poetic inquiry finds a natural home as part approach of phenomenology.

Indeed, poetry is essential to phenomenological thought [ 31 ]. For Heidegger, thinking is something which only occurs in the company of, or with poetry [ 32 ], Van Manen refers to phenomenology itself as a ‘poetizing project’ [ 26 ], whilst Bachelard used poetry to consider the meaning and impact of physical spaces [ 33 ]. As researchers immerse themselves in the construction of poetry from data, they open themselves to ‘what is said, or more accurately to what is unsaid’ [ 32 ], a necessary condition to unconcealing phenomena which, for interpretative phenomenologists like Heidegger, is synonymous with truth [ 34 , 35 ]. As Galvin and Todres surmise, ‘poetic language emphasizes ‘wholeness’, in that, through rhythm, repetition, and imagery, a wholeness is pointed to that is more than what is there’ [ 36 ]. In this way, poetic inquiry facilitates an openness to ‘the otherness of language’ [ 32 ], and acts as a way of thinking about one’s data in a way that engenders moments of wonder, and stimulates deep, analytical thought. Whilst at the heart of phenomenology is a commitment to represent experience ‘well’, all too often this is taken by medical educationalists as a mandate to retell events as they are reported by participants, instead of utilizing phenomenological inquiry to open a  space of understanding . Phenomenological accounts are not always factual—they can, and often do, draw upon fictional accounts to create ‘anecdotes of experience’, which convey meaning that is hard to communicate using a language of facts [ 37 ]. Creating poems as part of phenomenological inquiry can be seen as a way of creating these ‘anecdotes of experience’. For Van Manen, the key requirement of an ‘anecdote of experience’ is that the experiential account—in the case of poetic inquiry, the poem—is plausible in its truth-value [ 37 ]. Good phenomenological writing means that the reader recognizes the plausibility of the experience, even if they have never personally experienced that moment or kind of event. This is referred to by Van Manen as ‘the phenomenological nod’, where the reader of an account nods in agreement as they read about the lived experience of others [ 38 ].

Poetic inquiry may also help combat the oversimplification of findings within phenomenological research, which Sass comments is a key danger of phenomenological study [ 39 ]. Phenomenologists must constantly strive against reductionist portrayal of their findings—as Kelly et al. posit ‘phenomenology seeks to represent human experience in all its complexity, rather than seeking to reduce, parse or operationalize it’ [ 40 ]; this can cause issues when scholars are faced with journal-mandated word counts for their qualitative research. Portraying one’s data as poetry is an efficient way of displaying results within a qualitative paper’s results section, without (if done carefully, as we will discuss below) succumbing to reductionism. The necessity of ‘razor sharp’ language in short poems can powerfully capture the human experience in fewer words than with traditional qualitative quote display [ 41 ]. As Tse suggests, poetic inquiry ‘works with rather than against the complexities of experience, which researchers are always mining for understanding that is not easily extrapolated’[ 42 ]; simply put, poetic inquiry efficiently communicates a study’s findings whilst conserving their complexity. Poetic inquiry may, therefore, go some way to countering the temptation of reductionism in regard to phenomenological research.

Given the alignment of poetic inquiry to hermeneutic (interpretative [ 43 ]) phenomenological traditions, and its potential to counteract some of the issues phenomenological researchers may encounter, poetic inquiry has been used within phenomenological inquiry within other branches of the academe [ 13 , 26 ]. Within HPE, poetic inquiry is similarly suited to use within a phenomenological approach.

Types of poetic inquiry

One can engage in poetic inquiry in many ways. Van Luyn et al. draw distinctions between participant-voiced poetry, autobiographical poetry, and research poetry [ 44 ]. These approaches to poetic inquiry are summarized in Tab.  1 . In sum, participant-voiced poetry (sometimes referred to as ‘vox participare [ 10 ]’, ‘found poetry’ [ 11 ] or ‘data poetry’[ 45 ]) is the practice of creating a poem ‘solely from primary sources’ such as interview transcripts or written reflections [ 46 ]. The researcher shapes a participant’s words, ‘re-present[ing]’ them in poetic form [ 47 ]. Autobiographical poetry (sometimes referred to as auto-ethnographic poetry [ 45 ], or ‘vox autobiographica [ 10 ]’) is what one might expect—the construction of autobiographical poems that explore the experience of the researcher, ‘in order to gain insight into a particular research process’ [ 44 , 48 ]. Research poetry (or ‘vox theoria [ 10 ]’), is sometimes classed as a subtype of autobiographical poetry. However, Van Luyn et al. class research poems as a distinct entity, drawing attention to the fact that they are literature-voiced poems, written specifically in response to literature or theory in a field [ 44 ]. Whilst they are created by a researcher, they are ‘not a direct expression of the researcher’s personal experience’ [ 44 ].

How to ‘do’ poetic inquiry

Van Luyn et al.’s review suggests that participant-voiced poetry is the most common form of poetic inquiry [ 44 ]. There can be significant variation within this approach. Whilst we aim to cast some light on possible ways of engaging in participant-voiced poetic inquiry, the approaches we outline are by no means comprehensive or singular and are not intended to act as a prescriptive ‘how-to guide’. We outline two approaches to participant-voiced poetry: 1) Glesne’s method of poetic transcription and 2) Gilligan et al.’s listening guide, drawing on examples from HPE to illustrate their use.

Glesne’s method of poetic transcription

We suggest Glesne’s popular approach to poetic transcription [ 49 ] may act as a springboard for HPE researchers interested in poetic inquiry, by making clear the process of abiding by clear inquiry principles. The first principle Glesne sets is that only the participant’s words may be used within her participant-voiced poems [ 49 ]. Additionally, the syntax (the grammatical structure of words and phrases within a sentence—in essence, the ordering of words) of a participant’s way of speaking should be persevered in the poems that are written. For example, though the phrases ‘the cat ran quickly’, ‘the cat quickly ran’, and ‘quickly, the cat ran’ technically convey the same meaning, their syntax differs, which emphasizes different words within the phrases and alters the voice of the sentence. Though Glesne allowed herself to ‘pull … phrases from anywhere in the transcript and juxtapose them’, they paid attention to the participant’s ‘speaking rhythm … [their] way of saying things’ and echoed this in their poems [ 49 ].

Practically speaking, Glesne’s process first involves coding and sorting, similarly to the start of many qualitative research analyses. Major themes are then generated to group clusters of codes. It is after this point that poetic writing starts—all data under one theme is re-read, and the researcher reflects on the meaning and connections within the theme. Participant words within these data are used to portray meanings and connections. As researchers begin to write, it may become apparent that themes require some re-ordering. As poems are crafted, connections between data may become apparent that previously were hidden. As such, codes may shift categories or require refinement to attend to these new connections. Finally, researchers edit the participant-voiced poems, ensuring they speak to the meaning and complexity of the data.

We offer an example from our own research to demonstrate how transcript data can become a poem. Drawing inspiration from Glesne’s principles of poetic transcription, we used only the participant’s own words, and words from within one transcript, to construct participant-voiced poems for newly qualified doctors who had recently crossed the threshold into clinical practice [ 50 ]. As Glesne recommends, we were attentive to participant syntax—during our re-readings we made detailed notes in the margins of each transcript concerning participant tone, emphasis, use of pauses, rhythm and syntax. We also reviewed each transcript for repeating words, phrases, and expressions. An example of our process is depicted within the Table S1 of the Electronic Supplementary Material, where one participant-voiced poem (‘Friends are everything’) is displayed alongside the section of original transcript from which it is drawn. Words and phrases utilized in the poem are underlined.

Gilligan et al.’s ‘Listening Guide’ method

Gilligan et al. developed the ‘Listening Guide’ method in 2003 as a way of paying particular focus to how participants talk about themselves (using their first person ‘voices’)[ 51 ]. This method involves creation of a type of participant-voiced poetry, which helps researchers consider participant identities and subjectivities [ 52 ]. The method encourages researchers to pay close attention to participant use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ and recommends the creation of ‘I-poems’ in the second phase of the listening method [ 52 ]. The steps of the listening guide method are detailed in Tab.  2 . Typically, I‑poems are utilized only in the data analysis phase of the listening guide method [ 52 ], though some authors have used them to display results [ 53 ]. For examples of I‑poems, we recommend interested authors review the following references [ 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ].

It is important to clarify that participant-voiced poetic inquiry is, by nature, an inductive approach to data analysis. If researchers wish to use educational theory to inform their analysis of participant-voiced poems, we suggest they do so in a way which aligns with what Varpio et al. term a ‘subjectivist inductive’ orientation to theory and research, where researchers work ‘from data up to abstract conceptualizations’ [ 56 ]. One subjectivist inductive approach to theory, which Varpio et al. term ‘theory-informing inductive data analysis’ may be of particular use to authors interested in applying theory to the process of poetic inquiry. In this approach, researchers move from data to theory, starting out with the intent to ‘understand or explain a … phenomenon’, and later using theory as ‘an interpretative tool’ to make sense of created participant-voiced poems [ 56 ]. In their study of the experience of women who identify as lesbian, gay, or queer, Lambert uses Butler’s theory of passionate attachments to analyze a poem created from participant interview text, employing theory in such a ‘theory-informing inductive data analysis’ approach [ 57 ].

Though we have outlined two specific approaches to poetic inquiry, we encourage researchers to read widely, and to adapt the method of poetic inquiry they select to suit their context and study, if appropriate. Transparency of one’s methodological approach is key, and adaptors must ensure they adequately detail their process, and justify the steps they have taken. There is an ethical domain to participant-voiced poetry, and it is important that researchers define and hold themselves to a set of principles throughout the process of inquiry [ 58 ].

Poetizing HPE qualitative research

We envision that increasing participant-voiced poetry use within HPE research could add depth to research questions which concern how participants speak about, and perceive, themselves, others, and their experiences. Through inviting researchers to engage deeply with participant accounts, poetic inquiry within HPE is not just a tool, but a  way of being that gives rise to the space for wonder, surprise, emotions and creative expression and interpretation.

Though the benefits of poetry may appeal, researchers may not wish, or have capacity to, dive head-first into the unknown waters of poetic inquiry. If this is the case, there are several ways in which one can engage in ‘methodological borrowing’ [ 59 ] to poetize more traditional qualitative research projects and develop as a poet gradually over time [ 60 ]. Reflexive and analytic journaling is common within qualitative research. Researchers could expand this practice to include poetic journaling, an approach where researchers begin to think poetically about their findings. No two poetic journals will look the same. Researchers may wish to read poetry, taking notes on impactful lines and phrases which make them think. Researchers may also begin to write poems about their data and position as a researcher, experimenting with participant phrases, their own thoughts, and poetic conventions like rhyme and form. Keeping a poetic journal may also help capture what the sociologist Mills terms ‘fringe thoughts’—ideas which are by-products of everyday life, and which we usually dismiss as ‘mental noise’ but can hold intellectual value relevant to data analysis and theorization, as they prompt us to think differently about our research [ 61 ]. Excerpts from poetic journals could also be included within research manuscripts to demonstrate the process of reflexive engagement researchers have undertaken throughout a project. Using Gilligan’s listening guide as part of one’s analysis, but not results representation, may help researchers begin to think poetically about their data, and develop their poetic ear, without fear of their poetic output being subject to wide scrutiny.

Considerations of quality

There is debate within the poetic inquiry community as to what qualifies one to use poetic inquiry, with some concluding that, to engage in poetic inquiry, one should be a published or formally trained poet in their own right [ 58 ]. Respectfully, we disagree. Though proponents may claim their views are to protect the reputation of poetry, and ensure quality inquiry, such views position poetry as an elitist pursuit which prevents the engagement of novice, but keen, would-be poetic researchers. Given the benefits of poetic inquiry, we join with Lahman and Richard in advocating for ‘good enough’ research poetry [ 62 ]. ‘Good enough’ poetry is the space between the belief that ‘any person may write poetry’ (we recognize you need a grounding in poetic inquiry, and an appreciation of the approach), and ‘the scholarly belied that in-depth training is needed’ [ 62 ].

This debate may leave you feeling uneasy. As health professions educators, we enjoy practical guidance. If you are wondering how you will know whether your poems are ‘good enough’, we suggest you turn to Sullivan’s 2009 architectural dimensions of a poem [ 63 ] for reassurance, which Pate has synthesized into a quality checklist [ 26 ] (summarized in Table S2 of the Electronic Supplementary Material). As previously, these are not the only markers of poetic quality, nor do we believe they should be used prescriptively. Sullivan’s dimensions interplay and exist as a complex web or nexus that influence the impact and resonance of a poem. We advise that where researchers wish to use this checklist, they frame it as a broad guide or reflexive tool to consider the steps taken within their own research projects carefully and critically. Additionally, as researchers open up the possibilities of the method, it may be beneficial to learn more about typical poetic conventions such as form, meter and rhyme to advance your craft—but this is no means a prerequisite, at least in our eyes, to the ability to produce ‘good enough’ participant-voiced poetry.

Concluding thoughts

Though qualitative research is increasingly valued, barriers still exist to the progression of qualitative research within HPE. Discussions of the quality of qualitative research have centered methodological rigor, an important concern, but one that has dominated conversation. The threat to qualitative creativity has been much less frequently discussed within HPE. Poetic inquiry has not been a central topic of conversation yet holds the potential to encourage researchers to think deeply and creatively about their findings. Poems emphasize language and may cast new light on areas of HPE where thinking has become narrowed. Poetic inquiry can foster increased researcher attention to reflexivity in a creative and contemplative way. Crucially, poetic inquiry can preserve participant voice within research reports, and may offer one way to represent experience more faithfully. Poetic inquiry has much to offer HPE, and we encourage researchers to take up the poetic mantle to diversify research within the field and cultivate creativity. For, to return to the words of the poet Thomas Grey, who would not wish their thoughts to breathe, and words to burn?

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professor Tim Dornan for his encouragement, and for suggesting they connect over their mutual love for poetry and phenomenology.

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Authors and affiliations.

Health Professions Education Unit, Hull York Medical School, University of York, York, UK

Megan E. L. Brown & Gabrielle M. Finn

Medical Education Innovation and Research Centre, Imperial College London, London, UK

Megan E. L. Brown

Department of Family Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Martina Kelly

School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

Gabrielle M. Finn

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Correspondence to Megan E. L. Brown .

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M.E. L. Brown, M. Kelly and G.M. Finn declare that they have no competing interests.

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40037_2021_682_moesm1_esm.docx.

Supplementary table 1: Construction of a participant-voiced poem in our own research using Glesne’s method of poetic transcription. Supplementary table 2: Sullivan’s architectural dimensions of a poem, as synthesised into a quality checklist by Pate

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Brown, M.E.L., Kelly, M. & Finn, G.M. Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn: poetic inquiry within health professions education. Perspect Med Educ 10 , 257–264 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40037-021-00682-9

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40037-021-00682-9

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More than words: why poetry is good for our health.

“Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: That even as we grieved, we grew That even as we hurt, we hoped That even as we tired, we tried That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious”

Amanda Gorman, the 2017 National Youth Poet Laureate, spoke these powerful words at the 2020 presidential inauguration from the dais of the United States Capitol where, just weeks prior, a violent insurrection had erupted.

For millions of viewers watching virtually, amidst a raging pandemic and tumultuous political moment, her words provided solace and healing.

Gorman’s performance was a testament to the power of poetry and its delivery through spoken word to express our collective fears and most fervent hopes. Research shows that poetry—reading, writing, speaking it—can help support our mental health, especially in times of great need.

Amanda Gorman. Every word. Every single word. Inspiring and healing. Powerful and moving. #InaugurationDay https://t.co/LF5UQPp1aW — Javier Muñoz (@JMunozActor) January 20, 2021

The Healing Word

Poetry can provide comfort and boost mood during periods of stress, trauma and grief. Its powerful combination of words, metaphor and meter help us better express ourselves and make sense of the world and our place in it.

Different research studies have found evidence that writing or reading poetry can be therapeutic for both patients dealing with illness and adversity as well as their caregivers. A 2021 study of hospitalized children found that providing opportunities for them to read and write poetry reduced their fear, sadness, anger, worry, and fatigue. A group of 44 pediatric patients was given poetry-writing kits containing writing prompts, samples of selected poems, colorful construction paper, pens, and markers. The majority of children reported that they felt happy after the poetry activity. The post-poetry surveys also found that writing and reading poetry gave the children a welcome distraction from stress and an opportunity for self-reflection.

Another study found that guided poetry writing sessions significantly alleviated both symptoms of depression and trauma in adolescents who have been abused. Other studies found that poetry therapy with a certified therapist helped cancer patients improve emotional resilience, alleviate anxiety levels and improve their quality of life .

Poetry therapy also may support the emotional well-being of caregivers, including domestic violence counselors , family members of dementia patients and frontline healthcare workers. A systematic review published in 2019 found that poetry can help healthcare workers combat burnout and increase empathy for patients, giving the frontlines another arts-based tool to turn to during the pandemic and beyond.

And the healing benefits of poetry can extend to just about anyone: one study of undergraduate students in Iran found that reading poetry together reduced signs of depression, anxiety, and stress. Using poetry to find our voice can open up new ways of expressing ourselves that cannot be traversed with everyday words, and open up ways to heal and restore us particularly in times of stress. As UCLA psychiatrist and poetry therapist Robert Carroll once put it : “Our voices are embodiments of ourselves, whether written or spoken. It is in times of extremity that we long to find words or hear another human voice letting us know we are not alone.”

Rhythm and Rhyme on the Mind

Our brains are highly attuned to rhyme and rhythm in poetry. Even newborn infants respond to rhymes. In one 2019 study , researchers measured the surface brain activity of 21 Finnish newborn babies listening to regular speech, music, or nursery rhymes. Only the nursery rhymes produced a significant brain response when the rhymes were altered, suggesting that the infants’ brains were trying to predict what rhyme should have occurred.

Of course, even adults appreciate rhythmic and rhyming poems. One study found that the brain can automatically detect poetic harmonies and patterns even when the reader had not read much poetry before. In particular, stanzas with rhymes and a regular meter , or rhythm, led to a greater aesthetic appreciation and more positively felt emotions. This may be because, according to the cognitive fluency theory , we tend to enjoy things that are easier for us to mentally process, and both rhyme and repeated patterns do just that.

Rhyme and rhythm in poetry also intensify all emotional responses , be it joy or sadness. And like music, poetry can give us the chills, producing literal goosebumps with a good stanza. One study found that recited poetry could cause participants to feel intense emotions and subjective feelings of chills. Surprisingly, even subjects with little prior experience with poetry were moved; 77% of them said they experienced chills listening to unfamiliar poems. Video recording of the participants’ skin (via a “goosecam”) captured objective evidence of goosebumps during the readings.

These poetry-induced chills activate parts of the brain’s frontal lobe and ventral striatum, which are involved with reward and pleasure. The insular cortex, a brain area associated with bodily awareness, was also activated during these moving passages which may explain why poetry can feel like a full-body experience.

The words matter too, of course. The right words in a poem elevate the intensity of positive emotions the reader has.

The use of metaphor—making comparisons and drawing connections between different concepts—in particular has been found to activate the right hemisphere of the brain . Normally, our brain’s left hemisphere is far more involved in helping us understand language, but research has found that the right hemisphere may be critically important for integrating meanings of two seemingly unrelated concepts into a comprehensible metaphor.

In times of trauma, our language centers may go offline, making it difficult to fully express ourselves. By activating a different part of the brain through metaphor, poetry may help us again find our voice.

Though more research still needs to be conducted to understand all the ways poetry impacts our health, this much is clear: beyond rhyme or reason, poetry is good for our health and soul.

How to Make a Rhyme on Your Own Time

• Listen to The Slowdown daily poem podcast from American Public Media and the National Endowment for the Arts.
• Check out these 5 tips for how to read poetry from NPR.
• Write your own poems. Try these poetry exercises to help you get started.
• Read some selected poetry that resonates with teens.
• Transform Shakespeare into a pop song or vice-versa. Take a sonnet by the Bard and write it like a Top 40 hit. Or turn your favorite love ballad and make it a sonnet .
• Try your hand at writing your own poem – these worksheets of literary devices can help you get your creative juices flowing.
• Find a favorite children’s poet , such as Shel Silverstein or Roald Dahl.
• Act out a poem. Sing a poem. Find different ways of enjoying poetry!
• Write a haiku . A traditional form of Japanese poem with a 5-7-5 syllable pattern, writing a haiku can be easy and fun.
• Write an acrostic poem . You can start with your own name, but branch out to anything you like or enjoy.

This is article is a part of IAM Lab’s regularly updated  COVID-19 NeuroArts Field Guide . Be sure to  check the Guide  for the latest, evidence-based tips on how the arts can support our wellbeing during the pandemic.

We would also like to hear from you: Are you, your loved ones or colleagues dealing with specific issues and want to learn more about art-based solutions? Are you already using the arts to help you cope? 

Please share your thoughts, ideas and concerns with us at  covid19arts@artsandmindlab. org . Be well and stay safe.

Lead Image: Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II / Flickr

Written and reported by IAM Lab Communications Specialist Richard Sima . Richard received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins and is a science writer living in Baltimore, Maryland.

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Poetic approaches to qualitative data analysis.

• Qiana M. Cutts Qiana M. Cutts Mississippi State University
•  and  M. Billye Sankofa Waters M. Billye Sankofa Waters The University of Washington Tacoma
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.993
• Published online: 28 August 2019

Poetic inquiry, an increasingly popularized form of arts-based research, is an expressive and evocative method and methodology, where the lines of responsibility and roles assumed of a researcher mandate that the researcher is a social science and expressive artist. It is defined broadly as a reseach process and research product. As a process, poetic inquiry is the foundation of or central component to research endeavors where poetry can be the data source, the analytical and interpretative lenses, and/or the presentation. As a product, poetic inquiry results in poems singularly constructed by the researcher or participants or collaboratively crafted with both researcher and participants using notes, transcripts, memos, documents, texts, and so on. While all research is the interpretation of one voice through yet another voice, poetic inquiry offers the opportunity for participants to truly speak for themselves.

The emergence of poetry within arts-based research is connected not only to the overall increase in arts-based practices but also to broader epistemological and theoretical insights such as those posed by postmodern and post-structural theory. As such, feminist and other politically motivated researchers may be interested in the transformational possibilities of poetry, as poetry can be a vehicle through which the patriarchal suffocation of research can be challenged. Thus, many researchers utilizing poetic inquiry focus on race, gender, identity, social justice, etc.

As with any research, there are methodological and quality-related criticisms of poetic inquiry. However, poetic inquiry researchers acknowledge poetic inquiry is subjective, emotional, complex, connected, and sometimes messy in that it is constantly evolving, influencing, and being influenced by the social world. The quality of poetry used in and presented as poetic inquiry is more of a concern than a critique as arts-based researchers steer clear of promoting the minimized accessibility of poetic inquiry that would be the result of poetic elitism. Nevertheless, poetic inquiry researchers must consider the quality of their poetic inquiry work. They should study the craft of poetry, be aware of the traditions, understand the techniques, and engage in reflection prior to and while conducting any research project.

There are a number of considerations to be had regarding the future directions of poetic inquiry. First, poetic inquiry continues to grow and bear fruit. If researchers are to employ convincingly poetic inquiry, they cannot be bound by draconian definitions. Poetic inquiry is not a welcome all for poorly constructed poetry; however, advocating for tightly bound definitions of work that is intended to be exploratory, evocative, and expressive would debilitate the field. Next, while there are some generally accepted and expected practices, there is no mandated linear process one must employ in poetic inquiry. The continued evolution of the poetic inquiry process is expected. Finally, the impact of poetic inquiry has been increasing steadily for at least 15 years as researchers have become more interested in engaging, questioning, refining, and adopting poetic inquiry. A journal dedicated specifically to defining, exploring, and presenting poetic inquiry could further this impact.

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Poetry has a power to inspire change like no other art form

Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing, Cardiff Metropolitan University

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Culturally, poetry is used in varied ways. Haikus, for example, juxtapose images of the everyday, while lyric poetry expresses the personal and emotional. Similarly, poets themselves come in a range of guises. Think of the Romantic poet engaging with the sublime, the penniless artist in their garret, the high-brow don, the bard, the soldier on the frontline, the spoken word performer, the National Poet , the Poet Laureate or the Makar .

As an educator I sometimes encounter a fear of poetry in new students who have previously been put off by former teachers. Such teachers are, perhaps, intimidated by verse themselves, presenting it as a kind of algebra with an answer to be uncovered through some obscure metric code. This fear disperses, however, when students are given the confidence to interpret and engage with poetry on their own terms.

In creative writing classes we often talk about students needing to “find their own voice” and the best poems I read are written in the writers’ own particular voice, rather than in some inhabited “poetic” register. This is because poetry, for the writer and the reader, is about relevance.

Poetry is as relevant now as ever, whether you are a regular reader of it or not. Though chances are, at some point in your life, you will reach out to poetry. People look to poems, most often, at times of change. These can be happy or sad times, like birthdays, funerals or weddings. Poetry can provide clear expression of emotion at moments that are overwhelming and burdensome.

Markers of change

Poetry is also used to mark periods of change which are often celebrated through public events. In these instances the reading and writing of poetry can be transformative. At Remembrance Sunday, for example, verse is used to reflect upon and process the harsh realities of loss, as well as commemorate the military service of those who have passed.

In the wake of the shocking Manchester Arena bombing, Tony Walsh’s This is the Place gave the city a voice that was unifying, defiant and inspiring. It was important that Walsh is a Mancunian himself, just as David Jones fought in the trenches and at Mametz Wood which gives his In Parenthesis the weight of experience, while Holly McNish’s written experience in her book Nobody Told Me rings with the truth of a mother.

The communication of personal experiences like these in poetry, using direct and immediate terms, came to the fore with the early confessional poetry movement through poets like Robert Lowell , Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath . Their use of the personal and private as the basis for their poems was once considered shocking but is now an embedded part of the contemporary poetry world.

That is not to say that poetry can only communicate direct experiences, however. Some poems are spaces in which broad questions are grappled with and answers sought. For example, in Shakespeare’s The Tempest we are told death is a transformation rather than an end :

Nothing of him that doth fade But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange

These comforting words can also be found on the grave of Percy Bysshe Shelley in Rome.

Looking forward

Poetry is also used to explore the potential for change in the future, carrying with it the fears or hopes of the poet. Take Interim by Lola Ridge for example, a poem which holds particular relevance at this time. Ridge was a prominent activist and an advocate of the working classes. In Interim, change is yet to happen. We encounter the moment before change, the build up to change, the pause to take stock, consider and prepare for what is next. In it she anticipates a future movement or event. At a time of political uncertainty, as Brexit is being wrangled with, when opinions on all sides appear fragmented rather than unified, I find Ridge’s words a particular comfort. She describes the world as:

A great bird resting in its flight Between the alleys of the stars.

This idea of the resting world is powerful. The world is waiting for its inhabitants to come to order perhaps, or to evolve even, before moving on to who knows where. But that is just me and my interpretation. Another reader will disagree and that is one of the most satisfying things about reading poetry. Your interpretation is yours alone and it can change the way you think or feel about something. It can help in times of challenge and it can bolster in periods of unease.

Today, poetry has never been more immediately accessible. With websites like The Poetry Archive and The Poetry Foundation one can summon a poem in the palm of one’s hand. Whether you are a regular reader of poetry or a person who encounters it only at moments of change, there is no denying the ongoing relevance and power of it.

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Intervention, 2) 1)happiness, 2) 2)family involvement, 3) 3)good distraction, 4) 4)screenless activity, 5) 5)creativity, 6) 6)self-reflection, conclusions, effects of a poetry intervention on emotional wellbeing in hospitalized pediatric patients.

POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors have indicated they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: The authors have indicated they have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.

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Anna Delamerced , Cia Panicker , Kristina Monteiro , Erica Y. Chung; Effects of a Poetry Intervention on Emotional Wellbeing in Hospitalized Pediatric Patients. Hosp Pediatr March 2021; 11 (3): 263–269. https://doi.org/10.1542/hpeds.2020-002535

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The hospital is often a challenging and unfamiliar environment for families. Hospitalization can increase stress and anxiety among children and caregivers. In this study, we are the first to explore the possible therapeutic effects of poetry on hospitalized pediatric patients’ emotional wellbeing.

Patients aged 8 to 17 years old admitted to the inpatient pediatric ward and their parents or guardians were eligible for inclusion. With the validated Pediatric Quality of Life Present Functioning Visual Analogue Scales, 6 items were measured before and after the poetry intervention for each participant: fear, sadness, anger, worry, fatigue, and pain in the present moment. The intervention itself consisted of poetry-based reading and writing exercises. Participants and parents also completed an open-ended qualitative survey on their experience.

Data from 44 participants were analyzed. Using the Wilcoxon signed rank test, we showed that the poetry intervention had a statistically significant reduction in 5 of the 6 Pediatric Quality of Life Present Functioning Visual Analogue Scales symptom measures: fear ( P = .021), sadness ( P = .004), anger ( P = .039), worry ( P = .041), and fatigue ( P < .001). Reduction in pain was not statistically significant ( P = .092). Six coded themes emerged from qualitative analysis: the poetry intervention facilitated (1) happiness and (2) family involvement, was viewed as a (3) good distraction and (4) screenless activity, and cultivated (5) creativity and (6) self-reflection.

The poetry intervention led to statistically significant reductions in fear, sadness, anger, worry, and fatigue but not in pain. The study reveals promising results and serves as a starting point for future investigations on the therapeutic impact of poetry on hospitalized pediatric patients.

The hospital can be a daunting and fear-inducing environment for children. A child’s illness or injury requiring hospitalization can pull them out of school, keep them away from family and friends, and disrupt their sense of normalcy. Being hospitalized also poses emotional challenges. 1   Pediatric patients may experience anxiety, stress, and a sense of helplessness from a multitude of factors. Such factors include a lack of control over their environment; an influx of various health care providers switching shifts or multiple teams of providers; unfamiliar sights, smells, and sounds; and discomfort from procedures, from intravenous line placement to more invasive procedures such as surgery. 2   Health care–induced distress can have profound implications for a child’s life that may extend beyond the dates of their hospitalization, so it is important to recognize and address a patient’s state of emotional wellbeing. 3  

Interventions targeting anxiety in pediatric patients have been studied. For example, hospital clowns have been shown to play a significant role in decreasing anxiety and stress among pediatric patients. 4   In one study, interaction between therapeutic clowns and children hospitalized for respiratory conditions led to a statistically significant decrease in diastolic blood pressure and respiratory rate. 5   Other well-studied interventions that target pediatric hospital anxiety include music therapy. 6   Among hospitalized pediatric patients with bone marrow transplant, music therapy decreased the perception of isolation and negative mood and enhanced both caregiver and child’s psychosocial wellbeing. 7   In the NICU, music-based interventions led to a decrease in respiratory rate, improvement in infant’s sleep, and decrease in maternal anxiety. 8   Playing recordings of Bach music for hospitalized children also reduced anxiety. 9   These are existing interventions that have been previously studied, but none have investigated the role of poetry in ameliorating anxiety in hospitalized pediatric patients.

Poetry is a novel and unfolding field of interest in the clinical world. In an adult study, patients who had strokes were given the opportunity to read poetry, which improved cognitive function. This also led to cathartic experiences because many of the poems expressed lamentations, which is particularly poignant to patients who were navigating the sequelae of stroke. 10   Other forms of writing have been investigated in the adult population. In one study, patients undergoing chemotherapy infusion were offered a reflective writing activity. On the basis of prompts of their choice, they wrote their thoughts, emotions, and experiences in a provided journal. A validated questionnaire was administered before and after the activity to measure symptom burden, and results found a statistically significant reduction in anxiety. 11  

Although writing and narrative medicine have been well-reported in the literature, poetry is still a new area of exploration, not only within the adult population but also within the pediatric population. To the authors’ knowledge to date, this is the first study in which the effects of poetry on hospitalized pediatric patients’ wellbeing are investigated. We hypothesized a brief poetry intervention would enhance the emotional health of hospitalized children by reducing symptom burden such as sadness and anxiety.

Pediatric patients aged 8–17 years who were hospitalized at an academic children’s hospital in the northeastern United States and their parents and/or guardians were recruited from October 2019 to March 2020. Potential participants were identified daily from the inpatient hospital census. Children were excluded from the study if they were being evaluated for suspected child maltreatment, were admitted to the psychiatric unit or critical care and/or ICU, were wards of the state, or had significant impairments that would preclude participation. The intervention was only available in English. Written consent from parents and guardians and verbal assent by children were obtained. This study was approved by the Lifespan Institutional Review Board.

Parent/participant dyads filled a form asking for their age and reason for hospitalization and completed a questionnaire assessing symptom burden immediately before the poetry intervention. The questionnaire was the validated Pediatric Quality of Life Present Functioning Visual Analogue Scales (PedsQL VAS), a 6-item questionnaire that is used to assess anxiety, sadness, anger, worry, fatigue, and pain using 6 visual analogues. 12   Participants then completed the poetry program intervention, which is detailed below. The same PedsQL VAS questionnaire was administered immediately after the intervention. Results from before and after the intervention were compared with assess for symptom changes. Participants also completed a qualitative survey with 2 open-ended questions about their overall poetry intervention experience and on the state of their wellbeing. This was administered with the postquestionnaire, immediately after the intervention. Questions included: “How did writing poetry make you feel?” and “What did you like about it?” The same survey was given to parents and guardians to assess their perspectives of their child’s wellbeing postactivity.

For quantitative data, we used the scoring methodology that accompanies the PedsQL VAS questionnaire. This 6-item questionnaire is used to measure a patient’s present functioning at that time on anxiety, sadness, anger, worry, fatigue, and pain. Scoring involves a 0- to 100-mm line for each item. The participant marks anywhere on the line how they perceive that item, that is, a higher feeling of anxiety would mean a mark on the higher end of the line. A higher score reflects a higher intensity of that item. The change in intensity for that item is compared within a single participant before and after the intervention. Statistical analysis was done by Wilcoxon signed rank test, a nonparametric paired difference test. Qualitative analysis was conducted by primarily 1 investigator (A.D.). The qualitative survey data were coded by using line-by-line coding, followed by inductive thematic coding and constant comparative analysis 13   to develop themes gleaned from the surveys.

The intervention itself consisted of portable “poetry-writing kits” created for this study on the pediatric inpatient wards. The intervention was piloted ahead of time with 3 hospitalized pediatric patients to test the flow of the intervention and receive immediate feedback from participants. Each “poetry-writing kit” contained writing prompts, sheets of selected poems, activities, colorful construction paper, pens, and markers. Participants could choose to engage in either the reading component or writing component of the intervention, or both (see below). To standardize time, session length was ∼20 to 30 minutes. Session facilitators who engaged with the participants were 2 of the investigators (A.D. and C.P.).

Reading Component

Individual poems that were preselected for content included The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, The Rainbow by Christina Rossetti, and Hope is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson. Participants had the freedom to choose which poem(s) they wanted to read. They could read it out loud or quietly to themselves, with their parents, or with the facilitator to guide them if they decided.

Writing Component

The intervention also included poetry-writing prompts aimed at cultivating creativity and reflection (see Supplemental Information ). Examples of prompts are: “What do you think are your best strengths?”; “What is your favorite thing to do on Saturdays?”; and “Tell me a fun fact about you or a hidden talent you have.” Other writing exercises included rhyming and word-play activities, fill-in-the-blank poetry sheets, acrostic poems, and haikus.

Data from 44 participants were analyzed. The median age was 11. The top 3 most-common self-reported reasons for hospitalization in this sample were psychiatric (12 participants), surgical (11), and infectious (8). Other reasons included hematologic and oncologic (6), neurologic (3), pain-related (3), and endocrine (1) ( Fig 1 ).

Number of participants under self-reported reasons for hospitalization.

Dependent t tests comparing pre- and postintervention responses on the PedsQL VAS questionnaire showed statistically significant reductions in 5 of the 6 symptom measures ( Fig 2 ). A reduction was seen in fear (t(43) = 2.39, P = .021), sadness (t(43) = 3.01, P = .004), anger (t(43) = 2.13, P = .039), worry (t(43) = 2.13, P = .041), fatigue (t(43) = 5.40, P < .001). The most-significant decrease was observed in the measure of fatigue. Reduction in pain was not statistically significant (t(43) = 1.72, P = .092). The wide SDs suggest large variability across all the measures ( Table 1 ).

Graph of Symptoms pre- and postpoetry intervention. * p < .05.

Changes in Symptom Scores Before and After Poetry Activity

PedsQL VAS score range from 0 to 100; higher values indicate higher intensity of symptom.

All 44 participants and their parents completed open-ended surveys at the end of the poetry intervention. Six coded themes emerged from qualitative analysis. Brief descriptions and representative quotes are depicted in Table 2 . The themes revealed that the poetry intervention facilitated (1) happiness and (2) family involvement, was viewed as a (3) good distraction and (4) screenless activity, and cultivated (5) creativity and (6) self-reflection.

List of Themes With Example Quotes

The poetry intervention led to statistically significant reductions in symptom burden among pediatric patients in the inpatient setting, particularly in fear, sadness, anger, worry, and fatigue, with fatigue having the largest reduction. No statistically significant reduction was found in the outcome of pain.

Depending on the reason for hospitalization, children with illness may already feel fatigue and may tire easily from doing an activity. However, the data suggest participants actually reported increased energy levels after completing the poetry intervention. We consider other variables that may contribute to decreased perceptions of fatigue, such as the presence of both a parent and facilitator in the room to encourage and support the child as they do the poetry activity. Feelings of accomplishment may also contribute to the sense of decreased fatigue, in that these feelings can offer a boost of morale and be processed via the reward pathway in the brain. 14  

There was a significant reduction in the other symptoms as well. We hypothesize that the activity itself played a large role in distracting children from their present feelings of fear, sadness, anger, or worry. Family involvement perhaps reminded children that they are not alone in the hospital or navigating their illness, thus decreasing feelings of worry. Reductions in fear and worry are particularly consistent with previous interventions targeting anxiety in hospitalized pediatric patients, including magic therapy. 15   Only a few researchers have investigated the physiologic effects of poetry on the human brain and body, and it is an area for further research. In one study, researchers found college-aged participants more relaxed after reading emotionally positive poems. 16   In another study, researchers found highly pleasurable emotional effects of poetry by involving the neural reward system. 17   Thus, this may additionally explain why there were significant reductions in symptom burden. These concepts are further discussed and elucidated below in the themes coded from the qualitative data.

There was no statistically significant reduction in pain, perhaps in part because of its multifaceted and subjective nature; because it can be difficult to measure, patients may have overestimated or underscored their pain scores or designated their pain at baseline 0. Our study differs from a previous study in which researchers did find decreased pain scores among adult patients with cancer who disclosed highly emotional experiences about their illness in narrative writing. 18   Researchers in that study proposed that specifically writing about pain led to a reduction in pain. Not all of our study participants specifically wrote about their illness or pain in their poetry, which may explain in part why we did not observe a statistically significant reduction in this item.

Six themes emerged from qualitative analysis.

Almost all the participants wrote in the survey that they felt happy after the poetry activity. It was not a specific item measured on the PedsQL VAS questionnaire but is consistent with the statistically significant reduction seen with sadness. Participants often paired the words “happy” and “fun” together. One participant said, “It was a lot of fun and I felt very happy,” and another wrote that the activity “gave me happiness” and was a “fun thing to do.” They also used phrases such as “felt good” and “liked it a lot.” Parent feedback echoed these sentiments as well. “You can see her face light up with happiness,” said one parent, while another said, “The activity lifted her spirits.” The poetry activity was shown to be a pleasant experience that evoked feelings of happiness and joy.

Another theme that was identified from the surveys was family involvement. Parents, and even any siblings in the hospital room, had the option to participate in the poetry activity if the child desired. They could read poems with them or write a poem together. The majority of children desired parental involvement in the activity, especially in writing the poem. Parents and children bounced ideas off one another. Specifically, the acrostic poem activity cultivated the most parental involvement. The activity asked participants to think of characteristics that described themselves, and each characteristic had to start with the letters that constituted the child’s name. For example, if the child’s name was Sam, the first adjective would need to start with the letter S, the second adjective would start with the letter A, and the last would start with the letter M. If the mother, father, or even sibling was in the room, they would chime in and contribute words they thought described the child, such as “super” for S. Both parents and children recognized the potential interactive aspects of poetry. This collaborative nature was a surprising, positive observation because reading and writing poetry are often thought of as solitary activities.

Several parents perceived the poetry activity to be a good distraction from both the hospital environment and the child’s illness. One mother reported that it “helped get his mind off of things” while staying at the hospital. Another parent said “it was a good distraction for my daughter” before surgery. Children also endorsed this, with one child saying “I was able to think of other things, not just my sickness.” Distraction has been shown to relieve anxiety in previous literature as well. Researchers in studies on music, for example, have identified it as a form of distraction for children undergoing medical procedures such as intravenous placement in the emergency department. 19   Humor-based approaches through hospital clowns have also been shown to distract pediatric patients during medical procedures and in the preoperative period. 20   A poetry intervention adds to the body of literature on hospital-based activities that can serve as a therapeutic distraction for children in clinical settings.

This theme was coded from parental feedback on the poetry intervention. Several parents recognized that this poetry intervention was a “screenless activity.” One parent said it gave her child “something to do besides watching too much TV.” Another parent appreciated how his child “didn’t have to use the iPad to have fun.” The hospital environment is often saturated with screens from the in-room television to video games in the playroom. Online entertainment media is readily made available to hospitalized children. Researchers in one study found that screen media was used in 80.3% of observations of awake hospitalized children, and children directly attended to the screen in nearly 50% of observations. 21   Screen overuse is associated with negative physical and mental health effects in children, such as interference with sleep, eating, and mood. 22   Poetry offers a beneficial screenless activity that allows children to spend time away from television and iPads. This type of activity can break the cycle of staring at screens for long periods of time.

A fifth theme identified was that poetry fosters creativity. Previous researchers have shown the positive benefits of arts and crafts, and hospitalized children are provided various creative projects through the child life programs. Paint therapy has been shown to foster creativity among adult patients receiving chemotherapy infusions. 11   Similarly, arts therapy for psychiatric patients found reductions in mental health–related symptoms, hypothesizing that participating in creative activity has potential benefits for people experiencing mental health conditions. 22   Poetry stimulates cognition and imagination. 23   Our qualitative findings are consistent with previous studies and suggest that poetry is another free-form mode for patients to express themselves and cultivate creativity. Confinement to a room and limited activities are among the factors that can stifle creativity in the hospital. Poetry can be an additional avenue for pediatric patients to exercise creativity even in a stark place such as the hospital.

A final theme coded from the surveys was that poetry fosters self-reflection. Poetic language opens a space for patients to tap into and access parts of their identity that would be difficult to articulate and grasp otherwise. 24   Adolescents who were hospitalized for psychiatric-related reasons likely benefited the most from the self-reflective aspect of poetry. Our study is in keeping with previous ones. For instance, researchers in one study found optimism scores increased and negative-affect scores decreased among adolescents after completing an expressive writing intervention but did not engage in poetry. 25   Similarly in our study, for participants who wrote poetry specifically in response to their illness or reason for hospitalization, the act of writing their thoughts and emotions likely helped facilitate reflection and insights. They were able to put their feelings, that which is more abstract, into words, which is more concrete. Narrative therapy has been shown as a way to invite patients to say, write, or artistically represent an interpretation of their illness. 25   In doing so, they can confront worries or fears and experience catharsis. The act of sharing poetry also opens a space for dialogue. For one adolescent, sharing what she wrote with her mother facilitated a deeper understanding between one another, particularly when it came to her mental health condition. For others, they found new perspectives and new meanings to their illness when they took time to reflect and put to words their experiences.

Primary limitations included that this study took place in a single institution, limiting its generalizability. There was a lack of standardization in the intervention itself because participants could choose from a variety of poetry-related activities. Additionally, within the activities, it could have been beneficial to compare the effectiveness of the different parts of the intervention, such as reading versus writing poetry. A further possible limitation was that this study could only be conducted with patients who had parents present, to obtain consent. Patients without parents in the room could have benefited from the poetry intervention equally, more, or less. The interaction between parents and participants could have been a confounding variable affecting any of the measured emotions. Another concept to consider is clinical significance versus statistical significance. A reduction in an emotion that was already low-scoring (eg, anger) may not be equivalent to the child perceiving less anger (because he or she never felt severely angry initially). In that same vein, a reduction in a high scoring emotion such as pain may actually be felt and appreciated by the child, although it was not shown to be statistically significant.

Finally, with a larger sample size, we could have explored the impacts of the poetry intervention on different subgroups of diagnoses. For example, the baseline distress and the impact of the intervention may vary between a pediatric patient hospitalized for an acute surgical intervention or psychiatric illness, compared with one hospitalized for long-term oncology treatment. It is also possible our large sample of psychiatric patients skews the intervention benefits, because previous literature has shown creative writing to be beneficial within mental health psychotherapy. 26   Future aims include increasing the sample size for further data analysis and observing the applicability at multiple institutions.

We present the first study in which the effects of a poetry intervention on the wellbeing of hospitalized pediatric patients are investigated. We hope our promising results could serve as a model to design, implement, and adopt similar poetry programs at multiple inpatient pediatric settings. For example, child life services could more frequently incorporate poetry programs at children’s hospitals. Medical students, undergraduate students, or hospital volunteers could also be trained as facilitators of poetry activities. This is a growing area of research on the power of creative practices, and we advocate for the continued exploration of poetry-based interventions among the inpatient pediatric population.

Ms Delamerced conceptualized and designed the study, conducted analyses, drafted the initial transcript, and revised the manuscript; Dr Monteiro conducted analyses and reviewed results; Drs Panicker and Chung contributed to the conception and design of the study and reviewed and revised the manuscript; and all authors approved the final manuscript as submitted.

FUNDING: Supported by the Bray Medical Humanities Fellowship and had no role in the design or conduct of the study.

Competing Interests

Supplementary data.

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• News Releases

Poetry can help people cope with loneliness or isolation

University of Plymouth

Reading, writing and sharing poetry can help people cope with loneliness or isolation and reduce feelings of anxiety and depression, a new study shows.

Research by the University of Plymouth and Nottingham Trent University, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, found that many people who took to sharing, discussing and writing poetry as a means to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic experienced “demonstrable positive impact on their wellbeing”.

The findings are based on a survey of 400 people which showed that poetry helped those experiencing common mental health symptoms as well as those suffering from grief.

It was carried out with registered users of the website poetryandcovid.com (now archived as poetryandcovidarchive.com), who used the website to share their own poetry and/or read other people’s.

Just over half (51%) of respondents indicated that reading and/or writing poetry had helped them deal with feelings of loneliness or isolation, and for a further 50% it had helped with feelings of anxiety and depression.

Around a third (34%) felt that engaging with the website helped them feel “less anxious”, 24% felt that it helped them “feel better able to handle my problems”, 17% expressed that it enabled them to deal with issues relating to bereavement, while 16% said it assisted with ongoing mental health symptoms.

“These results demonstrate the substantial power of poetry,” said Principal Investigator Anthony Caleshu, Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing at the University of Plymouth. “Writing and reading poetry, as well as engaging with the website, had a considerable positive impact on the wellbeing of the participants during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In addition to supporting their health and wellbeing, the website informed social and cultural recovery and offered an understanding of how poetry was being used as a mode of discourse during the pandemic. It now provides an historical archive for how people around the world used English language poetry to navigate the crisis.”

More than 100,000 people from 128 countries visited the site, which featured more than 1,000 poems by more 600 authors, with most being submitted by the writers themselves.

One participant in the study wrote: “Poetry has been a lifeline throughout the pandemic, both reading and writing it, (sometimes a strong rope and other times a thin little string).”

Another wrote: “I’m looking to submit some poetry related to my father’s recent passing, which was due to COVID-19. I want to capture some of the conflicting emotions I’ve been feeling since news of (several) promising vaccines have been reported so close to his death. I hope the piece will connect with others who have lost loved ones, but also provide hope for those who are isolated and waiting for loved ones to return home. This is my first piece of poetry.”

Co-Investigator Dr Rory Waterman, Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature at Nottingham Trent University, said: “It’s likely that tethering poetry to a community-building platform, in this case the website, has had a particularly positive effect on the relationship between poetry and wellbeing, as it’s a way of bringing people together, the ice already having been broken.

“It’s also likely that other modes of creative and expressive writing – trying to find the right words for experience or circumstance, and then sharing them reciprocally – may positively affect people’s health in a similar way. The wider arts, including visual and performing arts, likely have comparable potential.

“This study shows that creativity, coupled with the opportunity for safe and supportive explication and discussion, can help people endure difficult times and circumstances by providing outlets through which they can work at making sense of experience.”

Journal of Poetry Therapy

10.1080/08893675.2023.2250921

Method of Research

Systematic review

Subject of Research

Article title.

Poetry and COVID-19: the benefit of poetry and the poetryandcovidarchive.com website to mental health and wellbeing

Article Publication Date

25-Sep-2023

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

Poetry Is an Act of Hope

Through verse, we can perhaps come closest to capturing events that exist beyond our capacity to describe.

This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.

Poetry is the art form that most expands my sense of what language can do. Today, so much daily English feels flat or distracted—politicians speak in clichés; friends are distracted in conversation by the tempting dinging of smartphones; TV dialogue and the sentences in books are frequently inelegant. This isn’t a disaster: Clichés endure because they convey ideas efficiently; not all small talk can be scintillating; a bad sentence here or there in a novel won’t necessarily condemn the whole work.

First, here are four new stories from The Atlantic ’s Books section:

• When your every decision feels torturous
• “Noon”: a poem by Li-Young Lee
• A prominent free-speech group is fighting for its life.
• The complicated ethics of rare-book collecting

Poetry is different, however. We expect more from it. Not a single word should be misused, not a single syllable misplaced—and, as a result, studying language within the poetic form can be particularly rewarding. In March and April of this year, two of America’s great poetry critics, Helen Vendler and Marjorie Perloff, died. In reading Adam Kirsch’s tribute to both, I was struck by how different their respective approaches to language were. Vendler was a “traditionalist,” per Kirsch; she liked poets who “communicated intimate thoughts and emotions in beautiful, complex language.” She was a famous close reader, carefully picking over poems to draw out every sense of meaning. For Vendler, Kirsch writes, poetry made language “more meaningful.”

Perloff wasn’t as interested in communicating meaning. Her favorite avant-garde poets used words in surprising and odd ways. As Kirsch writes, “At a time when television and advertising were making words smooth and empty, she argued that poets had a moral duty to resist by using language disruptively, forcing readers to sit up and pay attention.”

I’d reckon that neither Perloff nor Vendler relished lines that were smooth and empty, even though their preferred artists and attitudes toward reading might have differed. Ben Lerner has said that poetry represents a desire to “do something with words that we can’t actually do.” In that sense, poems are a declaration of hope in language: Even if we can’t pull off something magnificent, we can at least try.

Through poetry, we can perhaps come closest to capturing the events that feel so extreme as to exist beyond our capacity to describe them. In the February 8 issue of The New York Review of Books , Ann Lauterbach published a poem called “ War Zone ,” dedicated to Paul Auster, another literary great who died recently. The poem depicts not scenes of violence and gore but the hollow wordlessness many of us feel in the face of war or suffering—then it uses images of silence, blankness, and absence to fight against that unspeakability. The last line, which I won’t spoil here, points to this paradox: Words may not be able to capture everything—especially the worst things—but they can, and must, try.

When Poetry Could Define a Life

By Adam Kirsch

The close passing of the poetry critics Marjorie Perloff and Helen Vendler is a moment to recognize the end of an era.

Read the full article.

What to Read

The Taste of Country Cooking , by Edna Lewis

Lewis’s exemplary Southern cookbook is interspersed with essays on growing up in a farming community in Virginia; many of the recipes in the book unspool from these memories. Lewis, who worked as a chef in New York City as well as in North and South Carolina, writes with great sensual and emotional detail about growing up close to the land. Of springtime, she writes, “The quiet beauty in rebirth there was so enchanting it caused us to stand still in silence and absorb all we heard and saw. The palest liverwort, the elegant pink lady’s-slipper displayed against the velvety green path of moss leading endlessly through the woods.” Her book was ahead of its time in so many ways: It is a farm-to-table manifesto, a food memoir published decades before Ruth Reichl popularized the form, and an early, refined version of the cookbook-with-essays we’re now seeing from contemporary authors such as Eric Kim and Reem Assil. The recipes—ham biscuits, new cabbage with scallions, potted stuffed squab—are as alluring as the prose.  — Marian Bull

From our list: eight cookbooks worth reading cover to cover

Out Next Week

📚 First Love , by Lilly Dancyger

📚 América del Norte , by Nicolás Medina Mora

📚 The Lady Waiting , by Magdalena Zyzak

Your Weekend Read

The Diminishing Returns of Having Good Taste

By W. David Marx

There are obvious, concrete advantages to a world with information equality, such as expanding global access to health and educational materials—with a stable internet connection, anyone can learn basic computer programming from online tutorials and lectures on YouTube. Finding the optimal place to eat at any moment is certainly easier than it used to be. And, in the case of Google, to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” even serves as the company’s mission. The most commonly cited disadvantage to this extraordinary societal change, and for good reason, is that disinformation and misinformation can use the same easy pathways to spread unchecked. But after three decades of living with the internet, it’s clear that there are other, more subtle losses that come with instant access to knowledge, and we’ve yet to wrestle—interpersonally and culturally—with the implications.

When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic .

Explore all of our newsletters .

EH -- Researching Poems: Strategies for Poetry Research

• Find Articles
• Strategies for Poetry Research

Page Overview

This page addresses the research process -- the things that should be done before the actual writing of the paper -- and strategies for engaging in the process.  Although this LibGuide focuses on researching poems or poetry, this particular page is more general in scope and is applicable to most lower-division college research assignments.

Before You Begin

Before beginning any research process, first be absolutely sure you know the requirements of the assignment.  Things such as  

• the date the completed project is due 
• the due dates of any intermediate assignments, like turning in a working bibliography or notes
• the length requirement (minimum word count), if any 
• the minimum number and types (for example, books or articles from scholarly, peer-reviewed journals) of sources required

These formal requirements are as much a part of the assignment as the paper itself.  They form the box into which you must fit your work.  Do not take them lightly.

When possible, it is helpful to subdivide the overall research process into phases, a tactic which

• makes the idea of research less intimidating because you are dealing with sections at a time rather than the whole process
• makes the process easier to manage
• gives a sense of accomplishment as you move from one phase to the next

Characteristics of a Well-written Paper

Although there are many details that must be given attention in writing a research paper, there are three major criteria which must be met.  A well-written paper is

• Unified:  the paper has only one major idea; or, if it seeks to address multiple points, one point is given priority and the others are subordinated to it.
• Coherent: the body of the paper presents its contents in a logical order easy for readers to follow; use of transitional phrases (in addition, because of this, therefore, etc.) between paragraphs and sentences is important.
• Complete:  the paper delivers on everything it promises and does not leave questions in the mind of the reader; everything mentioned in the introduction is discussed somewhere in the paper; the conclusion does not introduce new ideas or anything not already addressed in the paper.

Basic Research Strategy

• How to Research From Pellissippi State Community College Libraries: discusses the principal components of a simple search strategy.
• Basic Research Strategies From Nassau Community College: a start-up guide for college level research that supplements the information in the preceding link. Tabs two, three, and four plus the Web Evaluation tab are the most useful for JSU students. As with any LibGuide originating from another campus, care must be taken to recognize the information which is applicable generally from that which applies solely to the Guide's home campus. .
• Information Literacy Tutorial From Nassau Community College: an elaboration on the material covered in the preceding link (also from NCC) which discusses that material in greater depth. The quizzes and surveys may be ignored.

Things to Keep in Mind

Although a research assignment can be daunting, there are things which can make the process less stressful, more manageable, and yield a better result.  And they are generally applicable across all types and levels of research.

1.  Be aware of the parameters of the assignment: topic selection options, due date, length requirement, source requirements.  These form the box into which you must fit your work.  

2. Treat the assignment as a series of components or stages rather than one undivided whole.

• devise a schedule for each task in the process: topic selection and refinement (background/overview information), source material from books (JaxCat), source material from journals (databases/Discovery), other sources (internet, interviews, non-print materials); the note-taking, drafting, and editing processes.
• stick to your timetable.  Time can be on your side as a researcher, but only if you keep to your schedule and do not delay or put everything off until just before the assignment deadline. 

3.  Leave enough time between your final draft and the submission date of your work that you can do one final proofread after the paper is no longer "fresh" to you.  You may find passages that need additional work because you see that what is on the page and what you meant to write are quite different.  Even better, have a friend or classmate read your final draft before you submit it.  A fresh pair of eyes sometimes has clearer vision. 

4.  If at any point in the process you encounter difficulties, consult a librarian.  Hunters use guides; fishermen use guides.  Explorers use guides.  When you are doing research, you are an explorer in the realm of ideas; your librarian is your guide. 

A Note on Sources

Research requires engagement with various types of sources.

• Primary sources: the thing itself, such as letters, diaries, documents, a painting, a sculpture; in lower-division literary research, usually a play, poem, or short story.
• Secondary sources: information about the primary source, such as books, essays, journal articles, although images and other media also might be included.  Companions, dictionaries, and encyclopedias are secondary sources.
• Tertiary sources: things such as bibliographies, indexes, or electronic databases (minus the full text) which serve as guides to point researchers toward secondary sources.  A full text database would be a combination of a secondary and tertiary source; some books have a bibliography of additional sources in the back.

Accessing sources requires going through various "information portals," each designed to principally support a certain type of content.  Houston Cole Library provides four principal information portals:

• JaxCat online catalog: books, although other items such as journals, newspapers, DVDs, and musical scores also may be searched for.
• Electronic databases: journal articles, newspaper stories, interviews, reviews (and a few books; JaxCat still should be the "go-to" portal for books).  JaxCat indexes records for the complete item: the book, journal, newspaper, CD but has no records for parts of the complete item: the article in the journal, the editorial in the newspaper, the song off the CD.  Databases contain records for these things.
• Discovery Search: mostly journal articles, but also (some) books and (some) random internet pages.  Discovery combines elements of the other three information portals and is especially useful for searches where one is researching a new or obscure topic about which little is likely to be written, or does not know where the desired information may be concentrated.  Discovery is the only portal which permits simul-searching across databases provided by multiple vendors.
• Internet (Bing, Dogpile, DuckDuckGo, Google, etc.): primarily webpages, especially for businesses (.com), government divisions at all levels (.gov), or organizations (.org). as well as pages for primary source-type documents such as lesson plans and public-domain books.  While book content (Google Books) and journal articles (Google Scholar) are accessible, these are not the strengths of the internet and more successful searches for this type of content can be performed through JaxCat and the databases.  

NOTE: There is no predetermined hierarchy among these information portals as regards which one should be used most or gone to first.  These considerations depend on the task at hand and will vary from assignment o assignment.

The link below provides further information on the different source types.

• Research Methods From Truckee Meadows Community College: a guide to basic research. The tab "What Type of Source?" presents an overview of the various types of information sources, identifying the advantages and disadvantages of each.
• << Previous: Find Books
• Last Updated: Apr 19, 2024 7:27 AM
• URL: https://libguides.jsu.edu/litresearchpoems

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Let’s read a poem what type of poetry boosts creativity.

• 1 Warsaw Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland
• 2 Faculty in Sopot, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Sopot, Poland

Poetry is one of the most creative uses of language. Yet the influence of poetry on creativity has received little attention. The present research aimed to determine how the reception of different types of poetry affect creativity levels. In two experimental studies, participants were assigned to two conditions: poetry reading and non-poetic text reading. Participants read poems (Study 1 = narrative/open metaphors; Study 2 = descriptive/conventional metaphors) or control pieces of non-poetic text. Before and after the reading manipulation, participants were given a test to determine levels of divergent thinking (DT; i.e., fluency, flexibility, and originality). Additionally, in both studies, the impact of frequent contact with poetry was examined. In Study 1 ( N = 107), participants showed increased fluency and flexibility after reading a narrative poem, while participants who read the non-poetic text showed a decrease in fluency and originality. In Study 2 ( N = 131) reception of conventional, closed metaphorization significantly lowered fluency and flexibility of thinking (compared to reading non-poetic text). The most critical finding was that poetry exposure could either increase or decrease creativity level depending on the type of poetic metaphors and style of poetic narration. Furthermore, results indicate that long-term exposure to poetry is associated with creativity. This interest in poetry can be explained by an ability to immerse oneself in a poetry content (i.e., a type of empathy) and the need for cognitive stimulation. Thus, this paper contributes a new perspective on exposure to poetry in the context of creativity and discusses possible individual differences that may affect how this type of art is received. However, future research is necessary to examine these associations further.

Introduction

Creativity is often understood in different ways. In an elitist view, creativity means eminent works of art created by great, gifted artists. In contrast, creativity has also been described as a common cognitive process, which can be improved ( Finke et al., 1992 ). This more popular approach has been labeled by Csikszentmihalyi (1996) as “little c Creativity." Previous research ( Mednick, 1962 ) has shown that creative thinking is based on flatter concept hierarchies, enabling remote associations to be more easily made. Csikszentmihalyi states that this kind of creativity is part of everyday human life, and can be observed even in young children. This type of “common" creativity results in more efficient problem solving, better performance on tasks measuring creative potential, and can even bring about the production of outstanding works of art. The current research concentrates on “little c Creativity," which can be improved by specific interventions under specific circumstances, and then observed and measured ( Guilford, 1950 ; Finke et al., 1992 ; Runco, 1999 ).

In this article, we examined whether the creative potential of a poem can be beneficial for receivers by testing whether one-time reception of poetry can influence the quality of divergent thinking (DT; i.e., multidirectional and/or potentially creative thinking). Additionally, we investigated if this impact depends on the type of poetic metaphors and/or the style of poetic narration.

There are several studies that have examined how humans produce metaphors ( Paivio, 1979 ; Chiappe and Chiappe, 2007 ; Silvia and Beaty, 2012 ; Beaty and Silvia, 2013 ), but little is known about metaphor comprehension, especially within the context of poetry. This research has inspired many books that attempt to teach the skills necessary to generate imaginative and interesting metaphors (e.g., Plotnik, 2007 ). It may be that the ability to associate remote ideas, facts, and elements of the environment, which is a key factor in metaphor production, may also be a key factor in creativity. Thus, these skills that can be taught to improve metaphorization may also overlap with skills to improve general creative ability.

Most psychological research on poetry has focused on the influence of text structure (i.e., rhythm, rhymes) on emotional reception of poems (e.g., Jakobson, 1960 ; Turner and Pöppel, 1983 ; Lerdahl, 2001 ; Obermeier et al., 2013 ). Additionally, many studies that have focused on poets’ creativity have also collected data revealing links between mental disorders and functioning (e.g., Stirman and Pennebaker, 2001 ; Djikic et al., 2006 ). Further, previous research has also examined the relationship between poetic training and creativity (e.g., Baer, 1996 ; Andonovska-Trajkovska, 2008 ; Cheng et al., 2010 ). However, the current manuscript focuses on the influence of poems as creative products that may affect receivers’ levels of creative thinking. This influence, however, likely depends on the type of poetry received.

The efficiency of DT is a key measure of idea generation (e.g., Baer, 1996 ; Runco, 1999 ; Nęcka, 2012 ). In contrast to convergent thinking, DT enables problem solving in diverse and potentially valuable ways. It often involves redefining the problem, referring to analogies, redirecting one’s thoughts, and breaking barriers in thinking. Previous research has found that spreading activation in the semantic network is indicative of DT ( Martindale, 1989 ; Ashton-James and Chartrand, 2009 ; Kaufman and Beghetto, 2009 ). Developing associations between distant ideas is a basic mechanism of creative thinking ( Mednick, 1962 ). For instance, Benedek et al. (2012) provided evidence that the ability to generate remote associations makes creative problem solving easier. Gilhooly et al. (2007) showed that ignoring close associations (but choosing remote ones) and breaking the stiff, typical relationships between ideas plays a crucial role in effective DT. The current studies are based on the hypothesis that the process of DT can be supported by poetry comprehension.

Poetry, which contains remote associations described through metaphors and analogies, combines non-related notions in atypical ways ( Lakoff and Johnson, 2003 ). In general, metaphoric expression often involves mapping between abstract and more concrete concepts ( Glucksberg, 2001 , 2003 ); therefore, the comprehension of metaphors requires the activation of a broader set of semantic associations. This is due to connecting two remote parts of a metaphor (theme and vehicle) into a meaningful expression ( Paivio, 1979 ; Kenett et al., 2018 ). Poetry reception can involve readiness to notice similarities between remote categories, which can be a crucial ability in generating creative ideas (e.g., Mednick, 1962 ; Koestler, 1964 ; Martindale, 1989 ). Training in metaphorical thinking results in the broadening of categories ( Nęcka and Kubiak, 1989 ), which leads to increased DT ( Trzebiński, 1981 ). Glucksberg et al. (1982) have shown that poetry reading broadens the scope of associations. Metaphor, based on remote associations, provides a new way of understanding reality and human feelings. In addition to fostering multidirectional and creative thinking, metaphor can also help individuals adjust to the surrounding world ( Kolańczyk, 1991 ; Nęcka, 2012 ). Metaphorization is, structurally, the most essential element of the poetic art (e.g., Lakoff and Johnson, 2003 ; Kovecses, 2010 ). Rhythm, syllabification, and word combinations in well-written poetry construct a meaningful whole aside from very remote notions ( Csikszentmihalyi, 1996 ). Thus, poetry comprehension can change readers’ DT; however, this impact likely depends on type of poetic metaphors and the narration used by the poet.

Thinking expressed in metaphors always involves the flexible activation and manipulation of acquired knowledge ( Benedek et al., 2014 ); even though metaphors are not always creative, even in poetry. Understanding a conventional metaphor is not intellectually challenging: comprehending such expressions is based on the retrieval of well-known meaning from memory ( Kenett et al., 2018 ). For example, love can be understood metaphorically as a nutrient. The metaphors “starved for affection” and “given strength by love” are not particularly creative, as they are based on a highly conventional metaphor (i.e., love = nutrient). These metaphors are ostensibly viewed as new by receivers of poetry, although they are not flexible or original. Hausman (1989) writes about two specific types of metaphors; one he describes as impoverished, frozen, and closed; the other, he refers to as original, divergent, and open. It seems logical to use terms like closed/convergent and open/divergent when referring to metaphors, which can emphasize a functional dimension of how these types of metaphors are used in poetry and casual language. To the best of our knowledge, however, previous research has never introduced this distinction in terms of differences between metaphors. Instead, Beaty and Silvia (2013) uses the metaphor labels conventional (i.e., familiar) and creative (i.e., novel).

Until now, no typologies of metaphors have been introduced that highlight differences in how poetry is constructed and how this impacts recipients. It seems that poetry uses at least these two kinds of metaphorization. Both of these can be adaptive for the recipient, because creativity requires both accommodation and assimilation ( Ayman-Nolley, 2010 ). Therefore, recipients’ reception of novel and open metaphors could result in more flexible and original thinking, whereas reception of conventional, well known, and closed metaphors could result in less flexible and less creative problem-solving.

In addition to the types of metaphors used, poetry is also characterized by content. One conceptualization of poetry describes it as a certain type of story, which is a separate and coherent whole, through which people express their thoughts and/or opinions ( Heiden, 2014 ). In this case, the author can bring an abstract idea closer to the reader through narrative imagery. This type of poetry can result in the receiver taking on another’s (i.e., the author’s) point of view, hence improving creativity. Moreover, this narrative type of poetry is an open task for readers, because understanding is reached based on the receiver’s own experience and understanding. The second type, noncreative poetry, is more conservative, and includes variously structured, commonplace (i.e., conventional) metaphors, which are often clichés based on common-sense regularities, and are sometimes the contents of parables or prayers. Metaphors in this type of poetry delineate and conventionalize meaning; they describe the world in ways known to everyone (e.g., Lakoff and Turner, 1989 ; Gibbs, 1994 ; Lakoff and Johnson, 2003 ; Kovecses, 2010 ).

The general goals of this research were to determine whether the reception of poetry stimulates creative thinking, and whether poetry’s impact on creativity varies depending on the type of poetry. Accordingly, we formulated the following research hypotheses:

1. Reception of an unconventional, open metaphor poem will stimulate the generation of creative ideas (i.e., improves DT from baseline).

2. Reception of conventional poetry either will not influence, or will negatively influence the generation of creative ideas (i.e., no increase or decrease in DT from baseline).

3. DT will be increased after the reception of open metaphor poetry, when compared to reading a neutral text.

4. DT will be decreased after reception of conventional poetry, when compared to a neutral text.

In Study 1, participants were exposed to a poem with narrative imagery expressing an author’s point of view and utilizing open metaphors. In Study 2, participants were exposed to a conventional poem that employed a biographical approach, comprised of commonplace metaphors and aphorisms.

Participants

Participants were recruited from high-school classes. All participants resided in Poland. A total of 107 participants completed the study ( M age = 17.46; SD = 1.03; 53 female). Students from the pool were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Upon entering the lab, participants were given a consent form and a brief explanation of the study procedures. The study was conducted in a group setting, with the number of participants ranging from 10 to 15. Participants provided written, informed consent, and were free to withdraw from the research at any time without giving reason or justification for withdrawing. Minors participated in research with written parental consent. Participants received points for behavior as compensation. Their participation was anonymous. The study was approved by a local ethics committee (clearance number: WKE/S 15/VI/1).

DT Measurement

To measure DT, participants were administered versions of the Question Generation task ( Chybicka, 2001 ). This task was conducted using a test-retest design (to observe creativity change). Participants listed as many questions as they could regarding an unambiguous picture (baseline image from Chybicka, 2001 ; post-test, a comparable version from Corbalan and Lopez, 1992 ). The fluency, flexibility, and the originality of answers were evaluated by three independent judges. Fluency was the total number of meaningful responses given by participant; flexibility (i.e., diversity of categories) was measured as the number of different categories; and originality was calculated as the number of original, novel, and interesting responses.

Poetry—Szymborska’s Poem

In Study 1, we chose Szymborska (2012) poem Utopia as an example of narrative, non-rhythmic poetry. In Utopia , Szymborska creates a sort of plot or story, which she conveys to the reader in a very metaphorical, condensed form. Szymborska’s narration in Utopia is characterized by ethical and metaphysical themes (e.g., “ As if all you can do here is leave and plunge, never to return, into the depths. Into unfathomable life & The Tree of Understanding, dazzlingly straight and simple, sprouts by the spring called Now I Get It” ). Six independent judges, all of which were Polish language teachers, filled in a short scale which contained three questions about affectivity of the chosen poem (e.g., “ the poem is neutral ”). They confirmed that the poem was emotionally stable, allowing for control over the influence of both rhythm and emotion on participants’ creativity.

Control Text

For the control text, we used the description of a cooking device (Speedcook, RPOL, Mielec, Poland). This description approximated the word count of a poem and did not contain any metaphors (e.g., “ Our kitchen appliance has a classic, elegant design. This device could replace every cooking appliance , a steam cooking tool, and a juicer” ). Device descriptions are often made according to the same pattern and in a comparable way. The description that we used contained close, functional associations between concepts. The text is constructed to provide concrete information to the recipient. The device description was obtained from an Internet website ( Wachowicz, 2014 ).

Contact With Poetry Scale

We developed a scale to measure poetry contact that addressed passion, as well as frequency of reading poetry and taking part in poetic meetings. Agreement/disagreement with statements was assessed. Statements included “ I am passionate about poetry,” “ In my free time, I very often read poems,” “ I write poems and share my work with others,” “I have several favorite poets,” “Sometimes, I put down my creative thoughts onto paper,” and “I was once an unpublished writer.” Participants answered the five items on a 5-point scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. The reliability of the tool, as measured by internal consistency, was satisfactory (Cronbach’s α = 0.83).

First, participants read introductory information highlighting the importance of their participation in the study and a confidentiality statement (assuring that participants would remain anonymous and encouraging them to answer all questions truthfully). Then, participants received the first version of the Question Generation Task ( Chybicka, 2001 ). Participants wrote questions about a picture printed on a piece of paper for 10 min. Next, participants were randomized into one of two groups: (a) the experimental group, which read the poem; or (b) the control group, which read the cooker description. Participants were instructed to silently read the poem twice, in a calm and attentive manner ( Kraxenberger and Menninghaus, 2016 ). After reading the text, participants answered two questions; one regarding understanding the content (“ I understand the meaning of the text”) and the other an affective estimation of the text (“ In my opinion, the text is pleasant ”). Items were rated on a 6-point scale, with response options ranging from 1 ( strongly disagree ) to 5 ( strongly agree ). Then, participants completed a parallel version of the drawing from the Question Generation Task ( Corbalan and Lopez, 1992 ). Finally, participants completed the devised scale concerning contact with poetry. Duration of the entire procedure was approximately 35 min. After completing the scale, participants were debriefed and thanked for their participation. We also collected postal addresses from participants who were interested in the results.

Data were analyzed using SPSS 24 (IBM, Armonk, NY, United States). The data from all participants were included in analyses and a significance level of p < 0.05 was adopted for all tests.

All three DT indicators were scored by three independent raters. A Kendall’s W of 1.00 was calculated for fluency at both time points; a W of 0.75 and 0.72 for flexibility in the first and the second measurement, respectively; and 0.76 for originality in both measurements ( W greater than 0.70 = good concordance). All indicators were analyzed separately via three repeated-measures analyses of variances (ANOVAs) with effect of measurement (first vs. second) as the within-subjects factor and group (poetry vs. description) as the between-subjects factor.

A 2 × 2 (measurement × group) repeated measures ANOVA for fluency revealed an interaction [ F (1,105) = 12.12, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.1], but no main effects. Pairwise comparisons showed a significant improvement in fluency scores on the second measurement compared to the first in the poetry group [ t (56) = 2.57, p = 0.013; Cohen’s d = 0.35]. Moreover, the control group differed in fluency across the measurements. Specifically, participants in this group demonstrated significantly lower scores in the second measurement than in the first [ t (52) = 2.44, p = 0.018; Cohen’s d = 0.35]. Extended data are shown in Figure 1 .

FIGURE 1. Mean fluency scores in the poetry-reading group and description-reading group in the first and second measurement in Study 1. Error bars: 95% Confidence interval.

A 2 × 2 (measurement × group) repeated measures ANOVA for flexibility also revealed an interaction [ F (1,105) = 10.15, p < 0.01, η 2 = 0.09]. Further, a main effect of measurement was observed [ F (1,105) = 17.52, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.14]. The second picture of the DT task led to more flexible answers ( M = 4.83, SD = 1.63) than did the first one ( M = 4.25, SD = 1.56). Two-tailed, paired t -tests for two measurements in the poetry group yielded significant differences [ t (56) = 5.47, p = 0.001; Cohen’s d = 0.75]. Extended data are presented in Figure 2 .

FIGURE 2. Mean flexibility scores in the poetry-reading group and description-reading group in the first and second measurement in Study 1. Error bars: 95% Confidence interval.

A 2 × 2 (measurement × group) repeated measures ANOVA for originality also revealed an interaction [ F (1,105) = 23.03, p = 0.01, η 2 = 0.18]. Additionally, a main effect of measurement was observed [ F (1,105) = 12.12, p < 0.01, η 2 = 0.11]. The first picture in the creativity test triggered more original answers ( M = 2.85, SD = 1.18) than did the second ( M = 2.34, SD = 1.71). Two-tailed paired t -tests yielded significant differences between the first and the second measurement only in the description group [ t (50) = 5.09, p < 0.001; Cohen’s d = 0.75]. Extended data are shown in Figure 3 .

FIGURE 3. Mean originality scores in the poetry-reading group and description-reading group in the first and second measurement in Study 1. Error bars: 95% Confidence interval.

To verify how individual differences in poetic interests are connected to DT, we also performed a linear regression analysis predicting DT on the first measurement (before the manipulation). As expected, flexibility was predicted by the level of poetic interests, F (1,56) = 3.29, p = 0.075, b = 0.24 (a near-significant trend). However, fluency and originality were not predicted by level of poetic interests. Further, no significant predictions were observed for the second measurement of creativity.

Results of the experiment support our hypotheses to a large extent, however, there are some issues that remain to be elucidated. Reading of poetry improved two creativity indicators (fluency and flexibility), while reading of the control (descriptive) text caused a decline in fluency and originality. Although these results are interesting, the question of why reading poetry does not improve originality remains. It is possible that reading this type of poetic narration introduces insufficient changes to the semantic network, so that individuals were unable to improve in the only indicator of product quality (i.e., originality). Additionally, flexibility did not decrease as a result of reading instructions. Likely because the cooker is compared with similar devices, which requires looking at it from different perspectives. Moreover, frequent contact with poetry predicted flexibility. These results suggest that the reception of narrative and open poetry broadens activation of the semantic network and allows for flexible switching between remote categories; however, it is not connected with the creation of very original solutions.

The chosen poem combines both abstract and concrete concepts. The abstract ones (e.g., obvious, understanding ) are explained in concrete or imaginative terms (e.g., valley, tree ), which facilitate a distinct view of reality ( Kirsch and Guthrie, 1984 ). Contact with this kind of poetry can diversify experience, which can lead to increased flexibility ( Ritter et al., 2012 ). Hence, poetry reception may result in diverse idea generation. Flexibility is the ability to use various categories beyond the boundaries of their literal meaning. Many researchers agree that reception of poetry inhibits automatic associations, thereby producing ideas without value ( Kirsch and Guthrie, 1984 ; Halonen, 1995 ). Creative thinking is often connected with breaking typical patterns of thinking and seeing the world in another way ( Amabile, 1996 ), which relates to intellectual risk-taking ( Nickerson, 1999 ).

The lack of change in originality scores may be related to the character of the poem. Utopia is rather calm, balanced, and narrative. As such, it may be able to weaken resistance to seeing things from another point of view (flexibility). In contrast, reception of such a poem may inhibit original idea production until the whole of the poem is understood. Therefore, the reception of this type of poetry may have a buffering effect on intrinsically motivated original ideas. The purification of the dominant influence of the author’s unique perspective is possible in more emotional and cathartic poetry. Thus, increased originality may be more visible after reception of cathartic metaphoric poems, which presents the extraordinary experience of a poet.

Finally, showing that the level of poetic interest predicts flexibility (measured prior to manipulation) is in line with previous research; specifically, that long-term contact with poetry is associated with creative problem solving ( McGovern and Hogshead, 1990 ). As Sternberg and Lubart (1999) claim, people’s interest in poetry can increase creative potential understood as seeing problems in unique ways.

Study 1 showed the positive impact of narrative poetry on DT. Subsequently, Study 2 utilized conventional poetry, with the hypothesis that reception of this type of poetry would not enhance creativity. We wanted also reveal why individuals demonstrate spontaneous contact with poetry, which may be essential for receiving this kind of art, and thus increased performance on tasks requiring DT ability. These elements were empathy (i.e., the tendency to become immersed in the poetry content; Davis, 1983 ), and need for cognition (NFC; construed as willingness to interact with the cognitively demanding text of a poem; Cacioppo and Petty, 1982 ). Poems can be challenging cognitive tasks. As such, understanding a poem requires the creation of complex meaning from specific words and exploration of multifaceted ideas ( Csikszentmihalyi, 1996 ).

We predicted that the variables listed above would be crucial for initial DT levels (i.e., baseline, recorded during the first DT test); but that these individual difference effects would disappear after the manipulation. We also predicted that reception of conventional poetry (and the control text) would lead to a poorer performance on the DT task after its reception.

Participants were recruited from high-school classes. All participants resided in Poland. A total of 131 participants completed the study ( M age = 16.36; SD = 0.71; 84 female). Students from this pool were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Upon entering the lab, participants were given a consent form and a brief explanation of the study procedures. The study was conducted in a group setting, with the number of participants ranging from 10 to 15. Participants provided written, informed consent, and were free to withdraw from the research at any time without giving reason or justification for withdrawing and received course credit as compensation. Minors participated in research with written parental consent. Participants received course credit for participation, and their participation was anonymous. The study was approved by a local ethics committee (clearance number: WKE/S 15/VI/1).

DT measurement protocols for this study were identical to those used in Study 1.

Gustafson’s Poem

Lars Gustafson’s poetry is philosophical; descriptive; and uses well-known metaphors of “life as a machine,” which was very popular in the 20th century. We used the Polish version of Gustafsson (2013) poem, Silence of The World before Bach , which, in a very descriptive way, presents a biography of Bach and the changes in the world connected with his music/art works. It uses commonplace metaphors, which describe the world in well-known ways (e.g., “ Soprano never in helpless love twined round the gentler movements of the flute ”), making it an excellent example of conventional poetry. The chosen poem does not rhyme and is emotionally stable, which was confirmed by three judges, in a manner similar to Study 1.

Gustafson’s Poem Description

For a control text, we created a description of the poem’s content. It approximated the word count of the poem and did not contain any metaphors.

This scale was an extended version of the task created for Study 1, which measures passion for poetry, as well as frequency of poetry reading and taking part in poetic meetings (e.g., “ I am passionate about poetry,” “ In my free time I very often read poems,” and “Poetry is incredibly difficult for me” ). Participants answered the eight items on a 5-point scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. The reliability of the tool, as measured by internal consistency, was satisfactory (Cronbach’s α = 0.853).

The Rational Experiential Inventory—NFC (Reflective) Scale

We used the Polish version of the Rational Experiential Inventory (REI; Epstein et al., 1996 ; Shiloh et al., 2002 ). This tool consists of two dimensions: an analytical-rational style of thinking and an intuitive-experimental style of thinking. The REI was devised based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ( Briggs and Myers, 1976 ) and the NFC scale ( Cacioppo and Petty, 1982 ), which defines the type of motivation described by the authors as the need for knowledge cognition. The NFC scale was used to build a rational (reflective) REI scale, opposite of the intuition scale. The most important element of this measure for the current study was the NFC scale. The REI is a 40-item Likert scale with response options ranging from 1 ( strongly disagree ) to 5 ( strongly agree ) The reliability of this tool, as measured by internal consistency, was satisfactory (Cronbach’s α for whole REI = 0.821, α for the NFC scale = 0.743).

Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI)—Fantasy Scale

The IRI is a questionnaire addressing empathy. It consists of four scales: Perspective Taking, Fantasy, Empathic Concern, and Personal Distress. In the current study, the Fantasy scale was used. This scale measures the tendency to imaginatively transpose oneself into fictional situations, as well as into the feelings and actions of fictitious characters in books, movies, and plays. This scale consists of 7 items (e.g., “ I really get involved with the feelings of the characters in a novel ,” “ I am usually objective when I watch a movie or play, and I do not often get completely caught up in it ”). The IRI involves a 5-point response option scale ranging from 1 ( strongly disagree ) to 5 ( strongly agree ). The reliability of the Fantasy Scale, as expressed by Cronbach’s α, was 0.682.

Participants first completed the baseline creativity test. Then, participants were randomized into one of two groups; (a) the experimental group that read the poem, and (b) the control group that read the description of its content. Participants read his/her respective documents twice. After the second reading, participants completed the second creativity test and completed the questionnaires listed above, using pen-and-paper procedures. The order of the creativity tests was counterbalanced across participants. After completing the scale, participants were debriefed and thanked for their participation. We also collected postal addresses from participants interested in the results.

Data were analyzed using SPSS 24 (IBM, Armonk, NY, United States). Two participants were excluded from analyses due to lack some data. A significance level of p < 0.05 was adopted for all tests.

All three DT indicators were scored by five independent raters. Kendall’s W = 0.9 for fluency in both measurements; W = 0.78 and 0.72 for flexibility in the first and the second measurement, respectively; and W = 0.7 for originality in both measurements. All indicators were analyzed separately by means of three repeated-measures ANOVAs with effect of measurement (first vs. second) as the within-subjects factor and group (poetry vs. description) as the between-subjects factor.

A 2 × 2 (measurement × group) repeated measures ANOVA conducted for fluency revealed an interaction [ F (1,127) = 11.56, p = 0.01, η 2 = 0.08]. Moreover, we found a main effect of Group [ F (1,127) = 12.35, p = 0.001, η 2 = 0.09]. The poem made people less fluent ( M = 7.41, SD = 0.71) than did the description ( M = 10.93, SD = 0.72). Pairwise comparisons showed that, in the second measurement, the poetry group’s fluency was significantly lower than the fluency of the description group [ t (127) = 4.61, p = 0.001; Cohen’s d = 0.84]. Two-tailed paired t -tests showed that the poetry group demonstrated a significant decrease in scores on the second measurement compared to the first measurement [ t (65) = 2.52, p = 0.014; Cohen’s d = 0.31]. Furthermore, the description group demonstrated better scores on the second measurement than on the first [ t (62) = 2.31, p = 0.024; Cohen’s d = 0.29]. Extended data are shown in Figure 4 .

FIGURE 4. Mean fluency scores in the poetry-reading group and description-reading group in the first and second measurement in Study 2. Error bars: 95% Confidence interval.

A 2 × 2 (measurement × group) repeated measures ANOVA for flexibility also revealed an interaction [ F (1,127) = 3.92, p = 0.05, η 2 = 0.03]. Additionally, we found a main effect of group [ F (1,127) = 28.68, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.18]. The description triggered more flexible answers ( M = 4.11, SD = 0.17) than did the poem ( M = 3.45, SD = 0.17). We also found differences between the first and second measurement of flexibility in both the poetry [ t (65) = 5.64; p = 0.001; Cohen’s d = 0.71] and description groups [ t (62) = 2.21, p = 0.031; Cohen’s d = 0.29]. Two-tailed paired t -tests showed that flexibility of both groups dropped in the second measurement when we compared its level with the first measurement. Furthermore, we found differences between the poetry and the description groups in the second measurement [ t (127) = 4.34, p = 0.001; Cohen’s d = 0.59]. Two t -tests showed that poetry reception resulted in lower flexibility scores than description reception in the second measurement. Extended data are presented in Figure 5 .

FIGURE 5. Mean flexibility scores in the poetry-reading group and description-reading group in the first and second measurement in Study 2. Error bars: 95% Confidence interval.

A 2 × 2 (measurement × group) repeated measures ANOVA for originality yielded not significant interactions or main effects.

Next, we conducted linear regression analyses to determine whether the mean frequency of contact with poetry, fantasy (empathy factor), and/or NFC predicted DT scores in the baseline measurement. Analyses showed that frequent contact with poetry positively predicted all parameters of DT [fluency, F (1,127) = 21.49, p < 0.001, R 2 = 0.15, b = 0.38; flexibility, F (1,127) = 23.73, p < 0.001, R 2 = 0,16, b = 0.39; and originality, F (1,127) = 17.94, p < 0.001, R 2 = 0,13, b = 0.35]. Further regression analyses yielded no significant associations between DT and fantasy, or DT and NFC.

We tried to explain the observed behavior—contact with poetry—in psychological terms. To elucidate the impacts of personality predictors on contact with poetry, we performed a single multiple regression analysis. The dependent variable was frequency of contact with poetry and the independent variables were fantasy and NFC. Results showed that the two-variables model was significant: F (2,127) = 10.67, p < 0.001, R 2 = 0.15. Fantasy was a slightly stronger predictor of contact with poetry/passion ( b = 0.26) than was NFC ( b = 0.25). As predicted, we found no significant effects regarding these variables in the second measurement.

We found that contact with conventional, biographical poetry led to decreased indicators of DT. We also observed that people who received this type of poetry demonstrated less fluent and flexible thinking compared with those that read a description of the same information. These results provide support for our hypothesis that idea generation is less likely after reception of narrative-conventional poetry, and that people are less creative after reading this kind of text, when compared to reading a neutral text.

Kovecses (2010) stated that a large body of poetry is constructed in a very conventional way (i.e., based on conceptual, conventional metaphors that are often used in everyday language). Such conventional metaphors (e.g., life is a journey; death is dark), as a part of our cognitive system, allow us to adapt to reality, but do not necessarily stimulate creativity ( Lakoff and Turner, 1989 ). “The idea that metaphor constrains creativity might seem contrary to the widely held belief the metaphor somehow liberates the mind to engage in divergent thinking” ( Gibbs, 1994 , p. 7). Poets create novel, non-conventional poems through cognitive transformations: elaboration, extension, questioning, and combining ( Lakoff and Turner, 1989 ). Therefore, it seems that the biographical, closed, and conventional poetry is also insufficient to stimulate creativity.

Our research confirms that contact with poetry, understood as long-term individual interest (not one-time contact), is associated with readers’ creativity. Accordingly, the results showed that frequent contact with poetry could be explained by individual differences, specifically increased ability to become absorbed in the feelings of characters in a novel, as well as a stronger NFC. We can conclude that the features of the text, as well as the ability to actively perceive the poem, are key factors for appropriate poem reception. Noy and Noy-Sharav (2013) argue that the emotional message of art is always individually perceived. Silvia (2005) , who refers to the appraisal theory of aesthetic emotions, claims that the evaluation of art, and not art itself, arouses emotions. Understanding of a poem requires the ability to actively follow and immerse oneself in the poetry content, which is an essential dimension of empathy ( Davis, 1983 ). Experience suggests that absorption and poetry-elicited empathy should impact positively on the aesthetic evaluation of a poem ( Garrido and Schubert, 2011 ; Taruffi and Koelsch, 2014 ).

Furthermore, curiosity is a key component of emotional motivation ( Hoffman, 2006 ; Silvia, 2005 ). The recipient should be motivated to comprehend the cognitively demanding content of the poem, which is a determinant of NFC (i.e., an individual’s tendency to engage in, and enjoy, effortful cognitive endeavors; Cacioppo and Petty, 1982 ). In general, we conclude that poetry reception favors pro-creativity states only under certain conditions, and that these conditions should be investigated in future studies.

General Discussion

Poets describe their emotions and observations, in the form of metaphorical statements, in an effort to better convey their vision of the world to the reader. In two studies, which were conducted using a test/re-test design, we controlled for the impact of two different types of poems, from two renowned artists, to determine what, if any, impact the reception of poetry has on idea generation. Szymborska’s narration is intellectually intriguing, with a surprising conclusion. Conversely, Gustafson’s narration is a poetic description of the music of a master. The first poet uses open metaphors, while the second conventional ones. We expected, and confirmed to a large extent, that perceiving novel metaphors, based on remote associations (i.e., open metaphors) would result in more creative responses to a problem, whereas reception of well-known metaphors, which reinforce the world view shared by the community (i.e., closed metaphors) would lead to less creative ideas. Even one-time contact with narrative, open poetry improved some aspects of DT. However, we did not observe changes in originality, which is the key indicator of DT efficiency. We attributed this effect to the author’s reasoning, aimed at one, surprising punch line.

Despite limitations in the selection of material, we conclude that poetry could be a useful tool for manipulating DT. Specifically, the results of the current studies suggest that poetry improves creativity if it contains open metaphors. However, reading conventional poetry may actually decrease idea generation. It is likely that the selection of poetic and control texts will remain an open problem for future studies on this topic.

We also accounted in these studies for individual differences that are critical for poetry reception. Frequent contact with poetry is associated with a slightly higher level of DT (compared to a lack of involvement in poetry) and could be explained by higher need for cognition (curiosity) and ability to empathize with poetry content.

Limitations and Future Directions

Although many of our hypotheses about the varied impact of poetry on generating ideas have been confirmed, it became clear that the simple division of metaphors into novel/open and well-known is not enough of a manipulation to affect DT. The narrative structure of the poem introduced limitations to the free and original interpretation of even the most distant, metaphorical associations. Therefore, future studies will seek pro-creative poetry in less structured and more emotional forms of poetic expression, specifically with the development of emotional themes that increase uncertainty and stimulate the reader’s imagination ( Kozielecki, 2007 ).

While we showed that the impact of poetry reading on creative thinking depends on the type of poetry, future studies should manipulate the type of poetry utilized in a single study. Specifically, there are more types of poetry (aside from non-conventional and conventional) that could impact the reader in diverse ways that we did not explore. According to Heiden (2014) , a fictionalized, narrative text can either address one’s understanding of life and a specific challenge found within the individual’s personal story (reference to “I”), or be an interpretation of events in the form of a story in general (referenced as “life at large”). Poetry that focuses on feelings, and disregards coherent narration, can be referred to as “cathartic poetry” (omitted in this research). The aim of cathartic poems is not to bring meaning closer, but rather to evoke the reader’s emotions. This type of poetry is an open task for readers, because everybody can comprehend it according to his or her own experience and understanding. It can support creativity more than narrative poetry used in the Study 1. Thus, it would be desirable to use narrative, cathartic, and conventional poems in one experimental model.

The current studies showed no increase in originality following poetry exposure. Therefore, it is important to conduct future studies to determine what kind of poetry, as well as what kind of cognitive abilities are necessary to achieve an increase in originality, which is the primary metric in DT.

It is also possible that the effects we observed could be due to the specific poems chosen, rather than the content relating to metaphor styles. This issue can be addressed only by choosing several wide-ranging poems, which differ in terms of both metaphorization style and structure. In addition to the well-structured poetry that we used in the current studies, we will choose poems in future research that are emotional and uncertain.

It is important to note that the control texts used in both of our experiments were not rated by the same judges who rated the poems in terms of affectivity and comprehensibility. Thus, we did not control the same possible factors that were neutralized by selecting and rating poems. Future studies should seek to ensure that all pieces used (both poetry and control) are rated. Additionally, the description of the poem’s content that was used as control text in the second study expresses a similar meaning to the poem, but without the use of metaphors. Without rating the content of both texts (poetry and its description), however, we cannot infer their similarity. To address this, a diverse range of texts included in the final collection should be rated by judges in the same manner as poems, both for affectivity and comprehensibility. In this way, the collection would result in several poems, restricted to the best examples of the three different metaphor styles (i.e., narrative, conventional, and cathartic). Further, the personality determinants of poetry receiving in judges and the receivers should be also be controlled.

In the current studies, creativity was more related to general problem solving than production of creative works (e.g., poetry, fictional stories). In future studies, we intend to check the influence of specific types of poetry reading on creating one’s own poems or prose samples. Future research should also explore the underlying mechanism behind how poetry influences creativity. Considering factors like emotions that are a consequence of contact with a poem, as well as individual differences in NFC and empathy, would allow us to construct a model to better describe the impact of poetry on the human mind. Furthermore, we failed to target specific audiences with specific types of poetry, which future studies should attempt. Finally, since the sample comprised high school students it would be difficult to extrapolate the results to a wider population.

Data Availability Statement

Datasets are available upon request. The raw data supporting the conclusions of this manuscript will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation, to any qualified researcher.

Ethics Statement

The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Council of SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Faculty in Sopot, Poland. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants and from the parents of all minors.

Author Contributions

MO and AK equally contributed to the study concept and design. Additionally, MO collected the data, developed the line of argumentation, performed the data analyses, and developed a poetry classification. MO and AK approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

The preparation of this paper was supported by a grant from National Science Centre, Poland No. 2016/21/N/HS6/2868 awarded to MO.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

The reviewer PC and handling Editor declared their shared affiliation at time of review.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank students Katarzyna Rajska, Oskar Wójcik, Katarzyna Gałasińska-Grygorczuk, and Angelika Krause for their help with data collection and creativity rating. We also thank Radosław Sterczynski for his help designing procedures. We would like to thank Editage ( www.editage.com ) for English language editing.

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Keywords : creativity, divergent thinking, metaphor, poetry reception, language

Citation: Osowiecka M and Kolańczyk A (2018) Let’s Read a Poem! What Type of Poetry Boosts Creativity? Front. Psychol. 9:1781. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01781

Received: 30 April 2018; Accepted: 03 September 2018; Published: 21 September 2018.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2018 Osowiecka and Kolańczyk. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Małgorzata Osowiecka, [email protected] ; [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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In a Poem, Just Who Is ‘the Speaker,’ Anyway?

Critics and readers love the term, but it can be awfully slippery to pin down. That’s what makes it so fun to try.

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By Elisa Gabbert

Elisa Gabbert’s collections of poetry and essays include, most recently, “Normal Distance” and the forthcoming “Any Person Is the Only Self.” Her On Poetry columns appear four times a year.

The pages of “A Little White Shadow,” by Mary Ruefle, house a lyric “I” — the ghost voice that emerges so often from what we call a poem. Yet the I belonged first to another book, a Christian text of the same name published in 1890, by Emily Malbone Morgan.

Ruefle “erased” most words of Morgan’s text with white paint, leaving what look like lines of verse on the yellowed pages: “my brain/grows weary/just thinking how to make/thought.” (My virgules are approximate — should I read all white gaps as line breaks, even if the words are in the same line of prose? Are larger gaps meant to form stanzas?)

On another page, we read (can I say Ruefle writes ?): “I was brought in contact/with the phenomenon/peculiar to/’A/shadow.’” It would be difficult to read Ruefle’s book without attributing that I to the author, to Ruefle, one way or another, although the book’s I existed long before she did.

This method of finding an I out there, already typed, to identify with, seems to me not much different from typing an I . An I on the page is abstract, symbolic, and not the same I as in speech, which in itself is not the same I as the I in the mind.

When an old friend asked me recently if I didn’t find the idea of “the speaker” to be somewhat underexamined, I was surprised by the force of the YES that rose up in me. I too had been following the critical convention of referring to whatever point of view a poem seems to generate as “the speaker” — a useful convention in that it (supposedly) prevents us from ascribing the views of the poem to its author. But in that moment I realized I feel a little fraudulent doing so. Why is that?

Perhaps because I never think of a “speaker” when writing a poem. I don’t posit some paper-doll self that I can make say things. It’s more true to say that the poem always gives my own I, my mind’s I, the magic ability to say things I wouldn’t in speech or in prose.

It’s not just that the poem, like a play or a novel, is fictive — that these genres offer plausible deniability, though they do. It’s also that formal constraints have the power to give us new thoughts. Sometimes, in order to make a line sound good, to fit the shape of the poem, I’m forced to cut a word or choose a different word, and what I thought I wanted to say gets more interesting. The poem has more surprising thoughts than I do.

“The speaker,” as a concept, makes two strong suggestions. One is that the voice of a poem is a kind of persona. In fact, when I looked for an entry on the subject in our New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (a tome if there ever was one, at 1,383 pages), I found only: “Speaker: See PERSONA.” This latter term is an “ancient distinction,” writes the scholar Fabian Gudas, between poems in the poet’s “own voice” and those in which “characters” are speaking.

But, as the entry goes on to note, 20th-century critics have questioned whether we can ever look at a poem as “the direct utterance of its author.” While persona seems too strong to apply to some first-person lyrics, the speaker implies all lyrics wear a veil of persona, at least, if not a full mask.

The second implication is that the voice is a voice — that a poem has spokenness , even just lying there silent on the page.

The question here, the one I think my friend was asking, is this: Does our use of “the speaker” as shorthand — for responsible readership, respectful acknowledgment of distance between poet and text — sort of let us off the hook? Does it give us an excuse to think less deeply than we might about degrees of persona and spokenness in any given poem?

Take Louise Glück’s “The Wild Iris,” “a book in which flowers speak,” as Glück herself described it. One flower speaks this, in “Trillium”: “I woke up ignorant in a forest;/only a moment ago, I didn’t know my voice/if one were given me/would be so full of grief.” (I find a note that I’ve stuck on this page, at some point: The flowers give permission to express .)

“Flowers don’t have voices,” James Longenbach writes, in his essay “The Spokenness of Poetry” — “but it takes a flower to remind us that poems don’t really have voices either.”

They’re more like scores for voices, maybe. A score isn’t music — it’s paper, not sound — and, as Jos Charles writes in an essay in “Personal Best: Makers on Their Poems That Matter Most,” “the written poem is often mistaken for the poem itself.” A poem, like a piece of music, she writes, “is neither its score nor any one performance,” but what is repeatable across all performances. Any reader reading a poem performs it — we channel the ghost voice.

There are poems that have almost no spokenness — such as Aram Saroyan’s “minimal poems,” which might consist of a single nonword on the page (“lighght,” most famously, but see also “morni,ng” or “Blod”). Or consider Paul Violi’s “Index,” whose first line is “Hudney, Sutej IX, X, XI, 7, 9, 25, 58, 60, 61, 64.” Is anyone speaking the page numbers?

And there are poems that have almost no persona, as in the microgenre whose speaker is a poetry instructor (see “Introduction to Poetry,” by Billy Collins).

Yet I’m not interested only in edge cases. There are so many subtle gradations of “speaker” in the middle, so much room for permission. A speaker may seem threatening, as in June Jordan’s “Poem About My Rights”: “from now on my resistance … may very well cost you your life.” A speaker may seem dishonest — Tove Ditlevsen’s first published poem was called “To My Dead Child,” addressing a stillborn infant who had in fact never existed.

Auden would say it’s hard not to “tell lies” in a poem, where “all facts and all beliefs cease to be true or false and become interesting possibilities.” So, we might say, the “speaker” is the vessel for the full range of lies that the poet is willing to tell.

“Poetry is not for personal confessions,” George Seferis wrote in a journal; “it expresses another personality that belongs to everyone.” This suggests poetry comes from some underlying self. If, by invoking “the speaker,” I avoid a conflation of the I and its author, I may also crowd the page with more figures than I need: a speaker and an author, both outside the poem. I wonder sometimes if there’s anyone there, when I’m reading. Does the speaker speak the poem? Or does the poem just speak?

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