Tag Archives: Medicine

Lucille Clifton’s Cancer Poems

By Robin Bates | Published: July 4, 2017

In her 1980s cancer poems, Lucille Clifton captures a range of feelings, ranging from confusion to anger to acceptance.

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Green Knight’s Lessons for Doctors

By Robin Bates | Published: June 30, 2017

An essay I received on “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” from a pre-med student has me thinking of the poem’s useful lessons for doctors. There are several.

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My Cataract Surgery Recalls Oedipus, Lear

By Robin Bates | Published: February 5, 2017

Recent cataract surgery had me recalling all those literary passages where sharp objects get poked into people’s eyes. The real drama, however, was renegotiating my professional identity.

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Medicine Incomplete without Poetry

By Robin Bates | Published: January 26, 2015

Medical journals are increasingly including poetry within their pages.

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Into the Depths with Smollett (Don’t Ask)

By Robin Bates | Published: August 27, 2014

My upcoming colonoscopy has me thinking about Tobias Smollett’s “Humphry Clinker.”

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Medical Schools Should Require Poetry

By Robin Bates | Published: July 12, 2013

Poetry should be required in medical schools for its ability to teach empathy.

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Midwife, No Doc, at Grandson’s Birth

By Robin Bates | Published: February 6, 2012

My new grandson had the birth experience denied Tristram Shandy: one where a midwife was in charge.

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A Nurse with a Literary Background

By Robin Bates | Published: June 30, 2010

When you are dying, would you want a former English major caring for you? You would want Sarah Tennant Simmons, a former student of mine who is now a hospice care nurse.  Sarah dropped by for lunch this past Monday and told me about the work she is currently doing.  While we may think of […]

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