Understanding the Pandemic: Self and Other Alignment with Covid Poetry

Abstract

This article examines how readers in an empirical study of COVID poetry make sense of the events and experiences depicted in a COVID poem. We draw on data generated through pre-reading questions, reading group discussions and post-reading journals to analyse how readers in our study both align their reading with their own pandemic experiences and demonstrate empathetic alignment with the experiences of others. Our findings demonstrate that reading COVID poetry triggers powerful responses in readers that may help them better understand the impact of the pandemic. These findings have implications for the medical humanities' use of poetry for well-being, in health contexts, with those affected by the pandemic, as well as more broadly for researchers and practitioners interested in the role of literature as a tool for remembering and reflection.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2025-013239
Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities
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College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities > Centre for Critical Inquiry into Society and Culture (CCISC)
College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities > Centre for Language Research at Aston (CLaRA)
College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities > English Languages and Applied Linguistics
Funding Information: Footnote: This part of the project was supported by a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant SRG2324\240854.
Additional Information: Copyright © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2025. This article has been accepted for publication in Medical Humanities, 2025 following peer review, and the Version of Record can be accessed online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2025-013239 . Reuse of this manuscript version (excluding any databases, tables, diagrams, photographs and other images or illustrative material included where a another copyright owner is identified) is permitted strictly pursuant to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC 4.0) http://creativecommons.org
Uncontrolled Keywords: COVID-19,linguistics,medical humanities,poetry,Pathology and Forensic Medicine,Philosophy
Publication ISSN: 1473-4265
Last Modified: 01 May 2025 08:42
Date Deposited: 07 Mar 2025 10:54
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://mh.bmj. ... hum-2025-013239 (Publisher URL)
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2025-04-01
Published Online Date: 2025-04-01
Accepted Date: 2025-03-06
Authors: Giovanelli, Marcello (ORCID Profile 0000-0001-8470-3800)
Gavin, Polina

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