ABSTRACT
The language of emotion is often manifested in the words of poetry. Poetry can be both a stimulus for eliciting emotion in one's group, which furthers dialogue, and a projective technique helping the group leader further understand, perhaps, the unspoken meaningful historical events in a client's life. The intervention is especially effective for the novice group leader, the seasoned clinician who wishes to include group therapy into his or her practice and is anxious with initially promoting dialogue with group Members, and the seasoned clinician who desires further and varied interventions in his or her work. If the poem is to be effective, only one person truly will understand what it means and that is the author who wrote it. In classical music the listener is without boundaries to follow his or her own thoughts and feelings while listening to the music.
