Poetry

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Stories and literature

idea

Reading books is not just a pleasure: it helps our minds to heal

Through my own struggles and in teaching bibliotherapy to students, I know that books can help to heal minds and hearts

by Peter Leyland

Ancient Roman mosaic depicting a woman lying on a bed and a nude man beside her in a domestic scene with vibrant colours and detailed tesserae arrangement. Two women attend to them.

Poetry

idea

Love’s contradictions: Catullus on the agony of infatuation

Behold a man tortured on the rack, pulled apart by love and hate: how to understand Catullus’s best-known poem

by Armand D’Angour

Cubist artwork depicting a fragmented still life with a book, glass and other objects in earthy tones.

Stories and literature

guide

How to gain more from your reading

There’s more to words than meets the eye. Deepen your appreciation of literature through the art of slow, attentive reading

by Robert DiYanni

Close-up of an older man in a flat cap and scarf, looking out over a misty rural landscape with blurred farmland in the background.

Poetry

film

Irish hills, folk music and David Whyte’s poetry form a fleeting, meditative moment

Directed by Andrew Hinton

Poetry

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Emily Dickinson and the creative ‘solitude of space’

For the poet Emily Dickinson, sequester was a feminist act of independence: it gave her mental and literal space to write

by Magdalena Ostas

Black and white photo of seagulls flying over a calm sea with distant hills in the background.

Rituals and celebrations

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Mourning is a leap to freedom, inviting new dreams of living

Mourning is a leap in the dark, but not into darkness. It’s a leap to freedom that invites us to dream of living once more

by Alexander Hirsch

A young woman in her bedroom sits at her desk holding flowers and a letter and looks back at us over her shoulder and smiles

Poetry

guide

How to write a love poem

Flirtatious texts are soon forgotten. Learn to express your feelings in a beautiful way that will make a lasting impression

by Dan Simpson

Open book with sketches of a handgun on the left page and a peach with geometric lines on the right page, on a dark surface.

Poetry

film

An English teacher asks his class: ‘What’s the opposite of a gun?’

Directed by Anna Samo and Lisa LaBracio

A painting of a man in a short robe holding a pink flower while walking, flanked by text written in an ancient script.

Poetry

idea

Learning Nahuatl, the flower song, and the poetics of life

Learning to think and feel in Nahuatl, the poetic language of my ancestors, broke me down and remade me

by David Bowles

Sepia photograph of a man wearing a wide-brimmed hat, a bow tie and a long coat, looking at the camera.

Stories and literature

idea

There is nothing so deep as the gleaming surface of the aphorism

The aphorism has been a way to express strong feelings without placing emotional demands on the listener

by Noreen Masud

Abstract painting of various musical instruments, including drums, a trombone, a banjo, and a guitar, with a silhouetted figure in foreground.

Poetry

film

Childhood collides with the adult world in this haunting Bukowski adaptation

A film by Jonathan Hodgson