Jonathan Bate: Stressed, Unstressed: Classic Poems to Ease the Mind

contents cover title page copyright ReLit and the Bibliotherapy Foundation introduction by Jonathan Bate 1. stopping 2. composing 3. meditating 4. stress-beating 5. remembering 6. releasing 7. grieving 8. feeling alone 9. living with uncertainty 10. moving on 11. seizing the day 12. positive thinking afterword by Mark Williams if you need help a note on the editors permissions index of poets about the publisher

William Collins

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This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2016

© Jonathan Bate and Paula Byrne 2016

Jonathan Bate and Paula Byrne assert the moral right to be identified as the editors of this book

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008203863

Ebook Edition © January 2016 ISBN: 9780008168162

Version: 2016-10-28

cover

title page contents cover title page copyright ReLit and the Bibliotherapy Foundation introduction by Jonathan Bate 1. stopping 2. composing 3. meditating 4. stress-beating 5. remembering 6. releasing 7. grieving 8. feeling alone 9. living with uncertainty 10. moving on 11. seizing the day 12. positive thinking afterword by Mark Williams if you need help a note on the editors permissions index of poets about the publisher

copyright copyright contents cover title page copyright ReLit and the Bibliotherapy Foundation introduction by Jonathan Bate 1. stopping 2. composing 3. meditating 4. stress-beating 5. remembering 6. releasing 7. grieving 8. feeling alone 9. living with uncertainty 10. moving on 11. seizing the day 12. positive thinking afterword by Mark Williams if you need help a note on the editors permissions index of poets about the publisher William Collins An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF WilliamCollinsBooks.com This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2016 © Jonathan Bate and Paula Byrne 2016 Jonathan Bate and Paula Byrne assert the moral right to be identified as the editors of this book A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008203863 Ebook Edition © January 2016 ISBN: 9780008168162 Version: 2016-10-28

ReLit and the Bibliotherapy Foundation ReLit and the Bibliotherapy Foundation These poems were selected by Jonathan Bate, Paula Byrne, Sophie Ratcliffe and Andrew Schuman, who all contributed to the section introductions. Many of the poems have been tried and tested in healthcare settings or at stressful times, past and present. Proceeds from sales of the anthology will be donated to ReLit, the campaign of the Bibliotherapy Foundation (a charitable enterprise) to alleviate stress and other mental health conditions through mindful reading. For more information about the work of the Foundation, please visit www.relit.org.uk . We would love to hear about the ways in which this anthology, and poetry in general, has helped you. Please add your comments on our website www.relit.org.uk/stressed .

introduction by Jonathan Bate

1. stopping

2. composing

3. meditating

4. stress-beating

5. remembering

6. releasing

7. grieving

8. feeling alone

9. living with uncertainty

10. moving on

11. seizing the day

12. positive thinking

afterword by Mark Williams

if you need help

a note on the editors

permissions

index of poets

about the publisher

These poems were selected by Jonathan Bate, Paula Byrne, Sophie Ratcliffe and Andrew Schuman, who all contributed to the section introductions. Many of the poems have been tried and tested in healthcare settings or at stressful times, past and present. Proceeds from sales of the anthology will be donated to ReLit, the campaign of the Bibliotherapy Foundation (a charitable enterprise) to alleviate stress and other mental health conditions through mindful reading. For more information about the work of the Foundation, please visitwww.relit.org.uk.

We would love to hear about the ways in which this anthology, and poetry in general, has helped you. Please add your comments on our websitewww.relit.org.uk/stressed.

‘Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind’

Rudyard Kipling

There are many ways of dealing with stress: a walk in the park, a cup of tea and a chat with a friend, a long hot bath, or that form of practised meditation which has become known as ‘mindfulness’. In this little book, we would like to share another remedy, in fact one of the oldest remedies of all: the reading of poetry.

True poetry, claimed William Wordsworth, is either ‘the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings’ or ‘emotion recollected in tranquillity’. The idea for this anthology came from the recollection of the powerful feelings stirred by some life-changing moments. There was a thirteen-year-old girl who lost her father and found comfort in a four-hundred-year-old poem by John Donne. There was the sense of utter desolation on being told by a compassionate consultant that a five-year-old daughter in intensive care could not be guaranteed to survive the night: hope came from a remembered poem that gave a glimpse of how others have endured their own desolation and come out the other side. Then there was the need to fill the mind with beautiful words and rich thoughts while waiting through many hours of surgery as that same child received a life-saving transplant.

There was also the experience of stress so intense that it manifested itself as physical pain in the hands and feet that was as real as that of an organic condition: yet the pain evaporated when a creative general practitioner prescribed not a drug but a book that provided exercises for managing stress. This inspired the thought: if words can do the work of drugs, what is to lose by putting them in our mental health first aid kit?