{"id":2595,"date":"2020-10-12T10:10:57","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T09:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=2595"},"modified":"2020-10-11T02:32:13","modified_gmt":"2020-10-11T01:32:13","slug":"william-carlos-williams-physician-poet-scrawls-theory-of-medical-humanities-throughout-prescription-pad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2020\/10\/12\/william-carlos-williams-physician-poet-scrawls-theory-of-medical-humanities-throughout-prescription-pad\/","title":{"rendered":"William Carlos Williams: Physician Poet Scrawls Theory of Medical Humanities Throughout Prescription Pad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Blog by Audrey Ruan<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe use of poetry is to vivify,\u201d William Carlos Williams <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lQd18mYJLm0&amp;feature=youtu.be\">jotted onto a prescription pad<\/a> over half a century ago. In the pages that followed, he hastily sketched out a theory of the interwoven contributions of science and poetry, published here for the first time. The prescription book is part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/beinecke.library.yale.edu\/collections\/highlights\/william-carlos-williams-papers\">William Carlos Williams Collection<\/a>, housed at Yale\u2019s Beinecke Rare Book &amp; Manuscript Library, which the library generously allowed me to study in early March, 2020.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com\/sites.gatech.edu\/dist\/c\/359\/files\/2020\/07\/Ruan-WCW-Transcription.pdf\">The prescription pad<\/a> is an unassuming, timeworn booklet. Each page consists of a prescription blank formatted with Williams\u2019 hours of operation, contact information, and space to articulate medical instructions<span class=\"ILfuVd\"><span class=\"hgKElc\">\u2014<\/span><\/span>or wax poetic. Over half of the blanks have been torn out. The remaining pages broadly epitomize Williams\u2019 professions: medicine and poetry.<\/p>\n<p>The first page prescribes a laxative, which Williams presumably neglected to hand to a constipated patient, but the second page launches into an exploration of the effects of poetry on human vitality.<\/p>\n<p>The artifact itself<span class=\"ILfuVd\"><span class=\"hgKElc\">\u2014<\/span><\/span>a booklet of legally-sanctioned forms for medical directives, repurposed to theorize about poetry<span class=\"ILfuVd\"><span class=\"hgKElc\">\u2014<\/span><\/span>instantiates Williams\u2019 premise: poetry is not an \u201camusement.\u201d It is a \u201cforce\u201d that \u201ccorrects\u201d the sterility of medicine.<\/p>\n<div id=\"metaslider-id-2637\" style=\"width: 100%;\" class=\"ml-slider-3-109-0 metaslider metaslider-flex metaslider-2637 ml-slider has-dots-nav ms-theme-default\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"William Carlos Williams newly discovered RX pad on the role of poetry\" data-height=\"300\" data-width=\"700\">\n    <div id=\"metaslider_container_2637\">\n        <div id=\"metaslider_2637\">\n            <ul class='slides'>\n                <li style=\"display: block; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2638 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:13\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_1-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_1-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2638 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_1\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 1<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2639 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:13\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_2-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_2-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2639 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_2\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 3<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2640 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:14\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_3-1-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_3-1-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2640 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_3\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 3<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2641 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:14\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_4-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_4-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2641 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_4\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 4<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2642 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:14\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_5-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_5-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2642 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_5\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 5<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2643 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:15\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_6-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_6-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2643 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_6\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 6<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2644 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:15\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_7-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_7-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2644 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_7\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 7<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2645 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:16\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_8-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_8-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2645 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_8\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 8<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2646 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:16\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_9-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_9-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2646 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_9\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 9<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2647 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:16\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_10-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_10-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2647 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_10\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 10<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2648 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:16\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_11-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_11-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2648 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_11\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 11<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2649 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:17\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_12-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_12-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2649 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_12\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 12<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2650 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:17\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_13-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_13-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2650 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_13\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 13<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2651 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:17\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_14-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_14-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2651 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_14\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 14<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2652 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:17\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_15-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_15-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2652 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_15\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 15<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2653 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:18\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_3-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_3-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2653 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_3\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 3<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2654 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:18\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_16-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_16-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2654 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_16\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 16<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2655 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:18\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_17-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_17-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2655 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_17\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 17<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2656 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:18\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_18-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_18-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2656 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_18\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 18<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2657 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:18\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_19-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_19-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2657 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_19\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 19<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2658 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:19\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_20-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_20-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2658 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_20\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 20<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2659 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:19\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_21-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_21-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2659 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_21\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 21<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2660 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:19\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_22-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_22-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2660 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_22\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 22<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-2661 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2020-10-10 18:32:20\" data-filename=\"WCW_RXpad_23-scaled-700x300.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2020\/09\/WCW_RXpad_23-scaled-700x300.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"700\" alt=\"WCW RX pad p. 23\" class=\"slider-2637 slide-2661 msDefaultImage\" title=\"WCW_RXpad_23\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">William Carlos William's RX pad - page 23<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n            <\/ul>\n        <\/div>\n        \n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The prescription pad also provides a glimpse of the diurnal interplay between medical rounds and literary expressivity in Williams, who was both Chief of Pediatrics for almost forty years and one of the founding modernist poets. It captures an echo of Williams, in between house calls, hurriedly flipping past the abandoned directive for laxatives to pour from his pen a stream of poetic philosophy across the last thirteen blanks. Flipping to their empty backsides, his thoughts continue for nine more pages, as if writing a prescription for Oppenheimer\u2019s Laxative stimulated an effluence of Williams\u2019 own creative imagination.<\/p>\n<p>Williams was indubitably a profound literary figure, for his poetry foremost, but also writing prose, translations, poetic theory, and plays. He had expressed that he practiced medicine for the purpose of supporting his writing.<a href=\"#ftnte1\"><sup>1<\/sup><\/a> However, his acquaintances, patients, and, most evidently, the four decades he spent treating to his community of Rutherford, New Jersey testify that neither of his vocations was accessory to the other. This truth is integral to examining the theory inscribed across his prescription blanks.<\/p>\n<p>In his draft, Williams exalts poetry. His theory of medical humanities observes that \u201c[poetry] is that force which revivifies common living.\u201d Science and philosophy are established as elements of common living, in a critical light: \u201c[they make] individuals subdued &amp; robs them of dignity.\u201d He notes, emphatically, of poetry: \u201cif all man of power gets what the poem enforces\u2014[it] will seep down all through the porous strata! This is a force, not an amusement.\u201d From these excerpts, we are left with a characterization of science as a sterile, mentally subjugating field and of poetry as vigorous, fluid and rejuvenating.<\/p>\n<p>The criticism of \u201cscience and philosophy\u201d throughout Williams\u2019 theory gestures toward humanity\u2019s ever-growing dependence on research and reason in problem solving and daily life. This would be especially visible in the medical field, idealized as a source of straightforward health solutions. However, reliance on empirical evidence comes with temporal and technological limits, as well as countless uncertainties. The time required to ethically and validly test and produce research is uncertain. Each patient\u2019s ability to obtain and then respond to treatment, too, is variable. When following guidelines and confronting the unknowns becomes overwhelming, this is \u201cwhere science &amp; philos. stop dead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prescribing Ambiguity<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While medical conventions governing written prescriptions stipulate guidelines to avoid any uncertainty, poetry, of course, intentionally seeks such ambiguities. Williams\u2019 own imagist poetry and his notes emphasize this aspect of poetry: it is imagination, a \u201cforce not to be captured\u201d that will heal people, where medicine falls short.<\/p>\n<p>In these paradoxical commitments to science and imagination, Williams draws on his mentor, physician poet John Keats, who first outlined the concept of, and necessity for, negative capability: the capacity to embrace uncertainty. One of the most omnipresent of uncertainties, also prevalent in the medical field, is that of existence: life and death. Where research and rationale leave this puzzle incomplete, imagination fills the void with expression<span class=\"ILfuVd\"><span class=\"hgKElc\">\u2014<\/span><\/span>birthed in the form of the humanities. The poetry of John Keats, the plays of William Shakespeare, the art of Jackson Pollock<span class=\"ILfuVd\"><span class=\"hgKElc\">\u2014<\/span><\/span>they transmit through time so successfully because they bespeak the shared experience of uncertainty in existence. Poetry is communication across the boundaries of time and space. It is the metaphysical medium of the poet, who is \u201cjust a transmissive agent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Williams\u2019 own life also constitutes this truth. He has explicated, to Dr. Robert Coles and also paraphrased in his autobiography,<a href=\"#ftnte2\"><sup>2<\/sup><\/a> regarding the balance of his two, simultaneous professions: \u201cIt\u2019s no strain. In fact, the one [medicine] nourishes the other [writing], even if at times I\u2019ve groaned to the contrary.\u201d In the case of the transcription at hand, Williams\u2019 experiences with medicine fertilized his conclusion that poetry is indispensable to his life, and all lives.<\/p>\n<p>From the moment my research mentor Dr. Sarah Higinbotham and I found Williams\u2019 notes on poetry in the Beinecke Library in the beginning of March 2020, through the months that have passed, the power of poetry in conjunction with science have been impressed upon me in exponentially greater terms. Williams\u2019 opening, \u201cthe singularly sterile field\u2026 science\u201d has taken on a wholly new light for me as the common living of 2020, too, became singularly sterile. To face a global pandemic, we need vaccine trials, studies, guidance from infectious disease experts\u2026 and we also need poetry. The first gives us the highest chances of physical survival and the second allows us to imagine alternatives.<\/p>\n<p>In the midst of hanging onto the news for science, research, and data to present revelations or solutions about Covid-19, I sensed my own calm and creativity evaporating like a spritz of 70% ethanol. I recognized my own need for negative capability and Williams\u2019 theory \u201cseeped\u201d even deeper. Poetry can \u201crevivify\u201d the pandemic statistics. It can articulate and unwind our anxieties. In an age where anxiety prevails and stress kills, what Williams prescribes is poetry.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Notes<\/strong><br \/>\n<a id=\"ftnte1\"><\/a>1. From William Carlos Williams\u2019 biographical sketch written to U.S. Information Services in 1950, available in the Beinecke Rare Book &amp; Manuscript Library<br \/>\n<a id=\"ftnte2\"><\/a>2. See Dr. Robert Coles\u2019 Introduction to a compilation of William Carlos Williams writings, The Doctor Stories (New Directions Publishing, 1984)<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blog by Audrey Ruan \u201cThe use of poetry is to vivify,\u201d William Carlos Williams jotted onto a prescription pad over half a century ago. In the pages that followed, he hastily sketched out a theory of the interwoven contributions of science and poetry, published here for the first time. The prescription book is part of [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2020\/10\/12\/william-carlos-williams-physician-poet-scrawls-theory-of-medical-humanities-throughout-prescription-pad\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15070],"tags":[15068,15088,15087,15086],"class_list":["post-2595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-blog","tag-medicine","tag-poetry","tag-william-carlos-williams"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>William Carlos Williams: Physician Poet Scrawls Theory of Medical Humanities Throughout Prescription Pad - Medical Humanities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cThe use of poetry is to vivify,\u201d William Carlos Williams jotted onto a prescription pad over half a century ago. 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