Effects of Poetry on Relaxation and Liberalism of Thoughts and Feelings: A Case Study of Poets, Poetry Readers, and Therapists

Abstract

Poetry is the most potent expression of emotions and sentiments. The language of beauty and expression takes both the reader and the writer to another realm of imagination. Reading and writing poetry may be the most effective therapy for dealing with any emotional condition. Poetry may be utilized in various ways by therapists, readers, and writers to obtain advantages that improve their physical, social, and emotional well-being. While there has been a lot of study on poetic therapy in general, there has been very little research on how poets, writers, and therapists utilize poetry. The study hypotheses that poetry has no impact on readers and authors to disclose their feelings. To validate this hypothesis the researcher has adapted qualitative method for analyzing data collected by means of interviews that held with, the readers, authors, and therapists.    The study found 25 poetry enthusiasts including poetry readers, writers and enthusiasts in Duhok, Iraq in Nawroz University in College of language-English department. All of the participants were interviewed, both online and in-person, and their interviews have been audio recorded for the research. The answers were analyzed, and three findings were drawn: the impact of poetry on relaxation and liberalization of ideas and emotions, the effect of poetry therapy, and poetry therapy methods. According to this research, poetry is an excellent tool for readers and authors to explore emotions and feelings and offer expression. The usage of poetry therapy has also been shown to have beneficial reward for therapists while conducting it with their patients as tool for treatment. Its worthy to note that the current research does not focus on a particular type of poetry. It rather follows on eclectic approach ie taking different types of poetry written in different languages into account.