The poet and the medic
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011‘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