The poet and the medic
‘White coat and purple coat
A sleeve from both he sews.
[...]
White coat and purple coat
can each be worn in turn[?]’
Dannie Abse, Song for Pythagoras
Dannie Abse qualified as a doctor in 1950, but published his first collection of poetry in 1948. He continued to combine his medical and writing careers for many years and medical themes feature extensively in his work. His poem Song for Pythagoras broaches the interrelation between medicine and literature and perhaps even more generally, science and art. As an intercalating Medical Humanities student at Bristol University, I have become increasingly aware of how art and the humanities aid medical practice, with dance, narrative and music therapy available in the healthcare environment and works of art gracing the walls of many a hospital corridor. It works both ways too, with the annual Wellcome image awards currently on exhibition in London, showing us ‘the wonder of medicine and the life sciences in all of its glorious splendour’ as well as the multitudinous ways in which science and medicine are referenced in countless works of literature. The scientist and the artist, or specifically; the poet and the medic, may seem like they are a thousand miles away from each other in terms of their work, but are they not both healers in their own ways?
Ashleigh Squire
March 29th, 2011 at 10:10 pm
I agree totally regarding medical scientists and artists both being healers. Carlo Levi springs to mind as a healer who straddled both camps.
My passions are health, medicine and bioscience, and art. I have qualifications in biochemistry, biomedical engineering, IT and art history, and have finally wound up as a software tester. It’s healing work, but regrettably not in medicine nor in art.
I’m frustrated by the reductionist road that medicine and biomedical science have been forced to go down since the 20th century. This can achieve a lot in treating degenerative diseases, but leaves many patients, mainly younger patients and mainly women with diseases caused by imbalances induced by the unnatural modern lifestyle, out in the cold, often with no diagnosis. I think that due to the complexity of the human body and mind-body interaction, that it’s a tall order for modern medicine to treat the symptoms of these diseases, thus it can only achieve anything by addressing the causes. This is where complementary medicine comes into play.
Re: the healing power of art, has anyone else noticed how long-lived (cf average life expectancy at the time) very prolific and talented artists have been throughout the ages? With the exception of those whose primary cause of death was venereal disease and/or mental illness during their 20s/30s/40s/50s (e.g. Raphael, Masaccio, Van Gogh, Manet, Gaugin). i.e. (in approx order of date of birth) Giotto (70), Simone Martini (60), Alberti (68), Brunalleschi (69), Fra Angelico (60), Bosch (66), Ghiberti (78), Donatello (80), Piero della Francesca (77), Fra Filippo Lippi (63), Michelangelo (88), Da Vinci (67), [at this point in time average life expectancy is about 40] Turner (76), di Chirico (90), Monet (86), Whistler (78), Cezanne (67), Magritte (68), Braque (81), Renoir (79), Picasso (91), Matisse (84), Chagall (97), Kandinsky (77), Dali (84). I would argue that none or only a handful of the greats died before their time (or > 20% before) due to natural causes associated with old age. Even Rubens (63) lived to a much better than average age for his time. I would say that there appears to be a less than expected difference in average life expectancy between great artists of the late medieval/renaissance period and the modern age.