Stephen Fry on Poetry and Depression

Stephen Fry tells Jonathan Bate about how he has turned to poetry in dark times. He ends by talking about John Keats, whose "Ode to a Nightingale" he reads in the next film.

[@simonpearce5039]

Depression to me heightens one's feelings, and makes me understand life differently to most.

[@lesleyannsaketkoomdmph3613]

Lovely kind humane being .. so compassionate to share one's plight.. deeply intelligent. Stephen Fry is epitome genious.

[@ryanward8122]

Just seeing it pop up on KZbin instantly lifted my depression before I have even viewed it Stephen is such a chap one of the true bastions of our great country. Now I'm off to phone spike 😉

[@AlexCa1411]

WOW....I have even more in common with Mr. Fry then I thought. I have BPD and poetry and writing in general is for me the best form of therapy.

[@nicholas1737]

Me too!

[@mrsc120]

Take heart, darling Stephen. Indeed, when we are down, we are down, but we always come up, up, up again: that's the beauty of being volatile.

[@minjiflieslikeninja]

This video saves lives

[@1995yuda]

Thank you so much for this video, it's a gift for the soul.

[@5150cappie]

Wow. Thank You for this and bless you, Stephen - you are a beautiful man who’s wit and expression of language covers a very wide spectrum of the human experience. Your honesty is deeply inspiring.

[@sattarabus]

Poetry as therapy poetry as form of delectation. Stephen has written an extremely beguiling book on poetry in all its multiple forms.

[@pearltiresiasgregory1763]

Mr Fry, thank you for having the courage to frankly express your issues with bipolar disorder & also drug & alcohol issues & a means of your own to deal with such things

[@patriciastewart2239]

That's what poetry is for isn't it? Hugs

[@RasMajnouni]

B"H Xmas is past.We thought, we sought ,we planned, we wished and we BOUGHT but still we didn't get what we wanted. We now HOPE for new Year's Eve and hope for the New Year to find a "better life" We all know what we need but who knows what we are needed for We are ALL Equal in that we have the same soul We are all different in tht no one shares the same kind of human body we have All Created beings NEED hope or we can't go on The Grass is greener On The Other Side, its what we HOPE will give us what we want When we get to the other Side we find that we didn't get all that we wanted Once KINGS and Emperoros ruled us as slaves NOW we are all slaves to our desires, we have hope that the next thing we are enslaved to buy and purchase will make us "happy" The new World Order is again King over us, were we ever free of kings? We all know what we NEED but do we know what we are NEEDED for? IF you ask yourself WHAT you are needed for as an Eternal Soul enclothed in a Human Physical Body, you will find the answer. As souls we are all one.

[@abigailgerlach5443]

Perhaps, rather, to turn your back on your demons when you need the embrace of your angels. The balance is to recognize the need for both.

[@46metube]

...basket...tiles. Yep. That's depression.

[@bluebellbeatnik4945]

just came here to say - good hair on the man here.

[@superdougie10]

Your depressed because your english, and you read poetry because you are british. Take a prozac and get on with it.

[@frankieroberts5015]

You're*

[@brendacook8801]

You’re, English, British, Prozac

[@wallacecleaver4485]

Take some rat poison and get on with it !

[@nickandmikec]

What has being British got to do with depression? You might invest in a dictionary. The word "your," in the sentence above, is misspelled; the correct spelling is "you're."

[@nickandmikec]

I don't subscribe to the idea of poetry as therapy, but if some wish to look at it like that, okay. Phillip Larkin was an alcoholic; he died of alcoholism. Alcohol is another bad choice for treating melancholia. Exercise, reading, doing something for someone else speaks volumes.