Poets and depression/alcoholism

[Stephen Whiteside]

Very interesting, Heather. I'm tempted to start a new thread calling for the names of bush poets that didn't suffer from depression and alcoholism. Not much point, though. You probably wouldn't find any.



I have split this discussion off from "children in poetry" as I thought the subject had changed and also that depression and poets is a relevant topic.
Heather

[Heather]

Henry Lawson - alcoholic, probably bi-polar, died young

Henry Kendall - alcoholic, depressed, died relatively young

Adam Lindsay Gordon - depressed - suicided in his 30s

Barcroft Boake - depressed - suicided in his 20s

[william williams]

would John OBrian come into your reconing Stephen


bill the old battler

[Heather]

What about Banjo Paterson? I don't know much about his life.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Yes, I was wondering about John O'Brien. Not sure about Paterson.

C. J. Dennis was certainly a big drinker - and suffered from depression.

[Heather]

I have a bit of a theory that something happens in the depressive brain that makes it think in poetry terms. I have met a couple of people who would fall into that category and when not depressed they can't write. Interesting, very interesting. Not everyone mind you but there's something going on there....

I'm not suggesting though that everyone that writes poetry is depressed.

Heather

[Stephen Whiteside]

The conventional thinking has always been that manic illness is very good for artistic activity because of the energy and the 'flight of ideas', and that the depressive bouts are the price you have to pay - not that the manic episodes cannot also be very destructive. I'm sure there's a lot more to it, though, that we don't understand - and possibly never will.

[Stephen Whiteside]

I also have a bit of pet theory. It seems to me that a sort of self-hypnosis is required for good writing, and some people are more amenable to hypnosis than others. I wonder if these people are also more prone to anxiety/depression, or bipolar illness. Come to think of it, I should be able to look that up.

I'm also interested in the relationship between death and art, which touches on what you are suggesting I think, Helen. The prospect of imminent death often squeezes great art out of people - or that's the theory, anyway. So maybe if you are depressed and become preoccupied with death, as many depressed people do, that is good for your art. On the other hand, of course, severe depression becomes quite crippling, and completely incompatible with any artistic endeavour. And obviously you can be facing death without necessarily feeling depressed, too. It's complicated, I guess.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Whoops, Heather. Sorry about that.

[Zondrae]

evening Stephen and Heather and others,

Regarding the topic in question: I think the theory expressed about depression and talet being somehow interwoven may have some merit. I have heard it said that to write with great expression and feeling, you first have to feel extremes of joy and sorrow. Also to write about love you must have loved. I wonder if allowing oneself to wallow in depression might increase the effects.

I know someone who has been prescribed an anti depressant and refuses to take them because he said "I don't feel, and you may as well be dead as to live life without feeling". He never seems to be happy so does this mean he enjoys, in some way, feeling miserable?