HumaneMedicine

Beha, Whole Five Feet

Christopher Beha's "The Whole Five Feet:  What the great books taught me about life, death and pretty much everything else" is worth the effort to read it.

From Publishers Weekly At first glance, Beha's situation is enviable: the 27-year-old Princeton graduate quits his job and is welcomed back into his parents' Manhattan apartment, where he decides to dedicate himself to reading all 51 volumes of the Harvard Classics Library, a five-foot shelf of (mostly) Western literature from Plato to Darwin. If only it were that easy: he must come to terms with the death of a beloved aunt early in the year, then is himself afflicted with a torn meniscus and a serious case of Lyme disease. With so much personal drama, the classics frequently take a back seat, and several volumes go completely unremarked. Beha spends the most time on those books that spoke most keenly to his personal circumstances; not only does he discuss John Stuart Mill's existential crisis at length, for example, he compares his own reaction to reading Wordsworth to the philosopher's. The broader conclusions Beha (now an assistant editor at Harper's) reaches about cultural values and the meaning of life are disappointingly pat; even the young memoirist concedes, I haven't written the book I set out to write. (May)  Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

He concludes:  "...these books have helped me to find meaning in events -- illness and loss as well as moments of great joy -- that didn't make any sense to me.  And at the same time, life helped me to make sense of these books."

This reminds me of the lines from Tennyson's Ulysses: "I am part of all that I have met."

Emily Dickenson

One can access 597 of of E.D.'s 1775 poems on Bartleby.com or most of the total at various Project Gutenberg sites.  Bartleby uses the modernized versions which change her peculiar punctuation (I prefer the original) -- Gutenberg retains those, but it's harder to find the poem one wants.  My source for Dickinson's poems is The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson edited by Thomas H. Johnson.Here is Bartleby's rendition of her "Epigram:"

THIS is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me,—
The simple news that Nature told,
With tender majesty.
Her message is committed	5
To hands I cannot see;
For love of her, sweet countrymen,
Judge tenderly of me!

and here is the way it appears in Johnson's edition:

This is my letter to the World,
That never wrote to Me --
The simple News that Nature told --
With tender Majesty

Her Message is committed
To Hands I cannot see --
For love of Her -- Sweet -- countrymen --
Judge tenderly --  of Me

Jeoffry, Zooey and Gray's Cat

Jubilate Agno, Fragment B, [For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry] by Christopher Smart

Wild Gratitude by Edward Hirsch  (read and/or listen)

Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat by Thomas Gray

These are just for the fun of it.  I learned aout Smart when I heard Hirsch's poem somewhere.  As a cat owner, all of these ring true.  You can hear Hirsch reading "Wild Gratitude" on the link above.

Thoreau on "Walking"

          

         Thoreau's essay "Walking" is a brilliant introduction to this salutary activity.  One can walk anywhere, but the environs around Williamstown are perfect for this activity.  During this Winter Study period, spending an hour a day in an alfresco activity would be an anodyne for the body and the soul.

          "When he came to grene wode,
            In a mery mornynge,
          There he herde the notes small
            Of byrdes mery syngynge"

I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend
four hours a day at least--and it is commonly more than that--sauntering
through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from
all worldly engagements.

I, who cannot stay in my chamber for a single day without acquiring some
rust, and when sometimes I have stolen forth for a walk at the eleventh
hour, or four o'clock in the afternoon, too late to redeem the day,
when the shades of night were already beginning to be mingled with the
daylight, have felt as if I had committed some sin to be atoned for,--I
confess that I am astonished at the power of endurance, to say nothing
of the moral insensibility, of my neighbors who confine themselves to
shops and offices the whole day for weeks and months, aye, and years
almost together. I know not what manner of stuff they are of--sitting
there now at three o'clock in the afternoon, as if it were three o'clock
in the morning.

Full Text of Thoreau's essay:  Walking  Download WALKING

John Keats (1795–1821) expresses a similar sentiment in just 14 lines!
 
To one who has been long in city pent,   
’Tis very sweet to look into the fair   
And open face of heaven,—to breathe a prayer   
Full in the smile of the blue firmament.   

Who is more happy, when, with hearts content,
Fatigued he sinks into some pleasant lair   
Of wavy grass, and reads a debonair   
And gentle tale of love and languishment?
   
Returning home at evening, with an ear   
Catching the notes of Philomel,—an eye     
Watching the sailing cloudlet’s bright career,   
He mourns that day so soon has glided by:
   
E’en like the passage of an angel’s tear   
That falls through the clear ether silently.

Where the Meanings Are

Musings on Poetry on Poetry by W.S. Merwin (as told to Bill Moyers) June 26, 2009

Transcript of this interview.  

Comment:

There's a certain Slant of Light,
Winter afternoons -
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes -

Heavenly Hurt it gives us -
We can find no scar,
But internal difference,
Where the Meanings, are.

None may teach it - Any -
'Tis the Seal Despair -
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the Air -

When it comes, the Landscape listens -
Shadows - hold their breath -
When it goes, 'tis like the Distance
On the look of Death -

Tennyson's Ulysses

 This is a good place to begin because Ulysses is a poem that contains many of the themes we will be addressing over the course of this month.

You can read it on The Victorian Web or the pdf that I made from that. Download Ulysses

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vexed the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart...

Wikipedia's brief bio of Alfred Lord Tennyson is a good introduction to the poet's life.

  Herbert James Draper's Ulysses and the Sirens

About Humane Medicine

This is adapted from the proposal for:

Humane Medicine and the Medical Humanities
Winter Study: January 2010

     There is a growing awareness that the sciences and social sciences are only part of the necessary preparation for medical school and the life of a physician or a care giver.  Although the humanities teach one about the human condition, too often, physicians and scientists fail to appreciate these disciplines.  In the film, The Dead Poets Society John Keating describes this well: “We don’t read and write poetry because it is cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

     In this course, students will be introduced to the medical humanities and will develop a personalized template for life-long enrichment.  The principal instructor, a physician, has a long-standing interest in this field.  He has published articles and hosted conferences in this area for over 20 years, and currently maintains websites and blogs that address the medical humanities (philosophy, pathographies and medical films).

    We will start with a consideration of Mark Edmundson’s inspirational and short book, “Why Read?” Then, we will read poetry,  fiction, Illness Narratives,  medical student essays,  books by physicians), and, hopefully, view a couple of films.

Other Medical Humanities Blogs:

Cell 2 Soul

Illness Narratives

MedFlix