A bit depressing, I was looking to read something uplifting. ( )

Like Stephen Fry says this book really is "balm for the soul". It is amazing how each poem so perfectly remedies each condition. Before reading I figured the poems would fit the conditions rather generically but I was so wrong. Every poem remedy is so precisely thought out. As I read different poems on different days when I was feeling different ways I was floored over how perfect each poem I read was and how soothing it felt to read it. It is not a book to be read in one sitting from front to back. It is a book that is meant to be dipped into in moments of need. I cant recommend it highly enough... especially with what is going on in the world in the present moment. ( )

I liked this idea and there are some great poems in here. But one thing really annoyed me - the author spends far too long talking about the poem and "what it all means" and the poem itself is almost lost in all that.
A very brief introduction and then the poem would have been a lot better - probably would have got a lot more poems in too! ( )

Robert Graves wrote, “A well chosen anthology is a complete dispensary of medicine for the more common mental disorders, and may be used as much for prevention as cure,” and that is the premise of the present anthology.

Sieghart explains in his introduction how the idea of his Poetry Pharmacy arose and developed, following with a useful short note on "how to read poetry". He then introduces each poem under a heading for the "conditions" for which he would describe them, and how a particular reading might shed light upon the causes of, or alleviate the feelings of, distress.

Naturally, there is a subjective view to such things, and I didn't always feel a particular poem was apposite, or that it would necessarily be helpful or therapeutic, but that's shaped by my own feeling-world and frame of reference. On balance, I think Sieghart hit the mark much more often than he missed.

I'm not sure how seriously Sieghart takes his idea of prescribing "pills" of poetry as if they would have a defined, consistent, and predictable effect upon different individuals. I'd assume that's not his position (and I'd disagree with him if it is), however, in a social setting that adheres to the Western medical-model of health and well-being, his pharmacy concept may be a gateway through which people can engage with poetry, and hopefully find a reflective space in which they can better understand themselves and the wellsprings of their distress. ( )