ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 explores narrative and poetry in relation to nursing. Narrative medicine is one model of explicit application of narrative technique to clinical relationships that readily connects to nursing values about honouring patient and family experience. Narrative is a frame for looking at nurse communications, maintaining continuity of patient’s identities as they hand over care and not only passing on items of information. Creative narrative writing is a powerful form for conveying nursing in its fullness. Recently published examples of work by nurses are discussed. Narratives can convey different kinds of illness experience. Frank’s differentiation of restitution, quest, and chaos narratives is explained. Switching to poetry, there are affinities between nursing and lyric poetry since both are called upon to face up to moments of extreme experience and intense emotion. A short lyric poem is quoted in full, written by a Polish poet who served as a nurse during World War II. It is analysed as an example of how poetry can be rooted in a specific time and place and yet connect with readers universally.
