John Keats poetry works as Medicine : Dr. Manali

Kalaburagi: John Keats’ poetry heals human pain in its own way, said Dr Manali Karmakar, Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences and Languages, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

She spoke as the chief guest at an Interdisciplinary National Webinar on “John Keats’ Poetics Through A Medical Humanities Perspective” to commemorate Keats’ birthday organised by the Department of English, Faculty of Languages, Khaja Bandanawaz University on Tuesday.

Elaborating on the connection between literature and medicine, she analysed the influence of Keats’ medical training as a surgeon and his practice as a dresser on his poetic compositions. She emphasized the need to place Keats and his works in the Romantic tradition and to see Keats as a poet-physician.
With the help of PowerPoint Presentations, she discussed the philosophical and linguistic aspects of Greco-Roman mythology on his understanding of life and death.

Prof. Nishat Arif Hussaini, Dean and Chairperson, in her presidential address remarked that looking at Keats through the perspective of Medical Humanities was a novel approach and added to our understanding of Keats who was an inspiration to many other poets. She also hoped that this approach would inspire students to conduct more research in the field of Medical Humanities.

The session also included an open discussion with the students and other participants.

Mohammed Shujauddin Safi, Assistant Professor, Dept. of English introduced the theme and the guest speaker while Zainab, Asst. Professor, moderated the Q&A session. Dr Athiya Sultana, Asst. Professor, proposed the vote of thanks.

The faculty of all departments and students were present.