Poetry In Mind

For many people, poetry says more about the human condition than science ever can. Poetry explores human themes such as love, relationships, how we deal with death, growing older, making decisions, the desire for gratification and the meaning of life itself. In this lecture, we will explore some of these themes, with reference to 17th century metaphysical poets and romantic poets such as Keats and Byron. We will also focus on Philip Larkin's works on emotions and relationships and John Betjeman's verse exploring faith, death and doubt, before concluding with Pablo Neruda's end of life poetry. This lecture is intended to celebrate life from its beginnings to its conclusion, considering our mental life in between these bookmarks.

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