11 Must-Read Poems about Doctors and Nurses

Poems about doctors and nurses often express gratitude and admiration, acknowledging the sacrifices they make and the lives they touch. They may delve into the emotional toll their work can take as they witness both triumph and tragedy within the walls of hospitals and clinics.

These poems honor the dedication, resilience, and profound impact of doctors and nurses, reminding us of their invaluable role in society and inspiring us to recognize and appreciate their unwavering commitment to the well-being of others.

Poems about Doctors and Nurses Visual Representation

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Out of the Bag

by Seamus Heaney

Heaney’s ‘Out of the Bag’ blends childhood wonder with mature insights on life and healing, invoking personal and mythic elements.

Heaney's poem captures the innocent ignorance of children when it comes to medical matters. To the small child in the poem's opening section, the work of the doctor is effectively indistinguishable from magic, as he can seemingly create life so far as the child is concerned. It is only with age that one can appreciate the enormity of the task faced by doctors and other healthcare workers, who still retain a degree of mysticism, even to the older poetic voice at the poem's conclusion.

All of us came in Doctor Kerlin's bag.

He'd arrive with it, disappear to the room

And by the time he'd reappear to wash

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Death In Leamington

by John Betjeman

‘Death in Leamington’ by Betjeman is a serene portrayal of death’s calm, marked by a nurse’s quiet realization in a peaceful room.

'Death in Leamington' reminds the reader that, while they are not friends or family members, medical professionals such as nurses often bear witness to the final precious moments of a person's life. The nurse's words echo forth into the room as she is not yet aware of the fact the person has died, emphasising the ease with which a person slips from one realm into another when they pass away.

She died in the upstairs bedroom

By the light of the ev'ning star

That shone through the plate glass window

From over Leamington Spa

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The Nurse believed the sick man slept

by Charlotte Brontë

’The Nurse believed the sick man slept’ portrays a nurse’s mistake, unveiling the boundary between sleep and death’s eternal silence.

The titular nurse in this extremely brief poem is either relatively poor at her job or deliberately ignores the fact her patient has passed away. Regardless of this, the poem touches upon the fact nurses and other health professionals are so surrounded by reminders of mortality that the sight of a person dying seems no more noteworthy than if they had simply fallen asleep.

The Nurse believed the sick man slept

For motionless he lay

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Loving Someone You Can't Have

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Unknown Girl in the Maternity Ward

by Anne Sexton

‘Unknown Girl in the Maternity Ward’ showcases the heartbreaking moment a mother is separated from her child as she is too unwell.

The doctors and nurses in the ward are mentioned explicitly on several occasions throughout the poem. Sexton appears more sympathetic to the nurses than the doctors, who she appears to blame for the decision to take the child away. Given the likely gender balance across the two roles in the 1970s, it may be that her sympathy for the nurses was due to their being women like her.

Child, the current of your breath is six days long.

You lie, a small knuckle on my white bed;

lie, fisted like a snail, so small and strong

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The Wound-Dresser

by Walt Whitman

‘The Wound-Dresser’ is a powerful poem that weighs the lofty reasons given to wage war with the bloody realities of its cost to human life.

This poem is all about Whitman's personal experiences when he was a nurse during the civil war. He describes the conditions as well as his daily routine as he would go around the many patients trying to help them. He gives the reader clear descriptions of the injuries and how these things made him feel, even though he had to keep his feelings hidden and continue with his job.

An old man bending I come among new faces,

Years looking backward resuming in answer to children,

Come tell us old man, as from young men and maidens that love me,

(Arous’d and angry, I’d thought to beat the alarum, and urge relentless war,

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Giuseppe

by Roderick Ford

‘Giuseppe’ explores the grim tale of a mermaid’s murder in WWII Sicily, highlighting the dark side of human survival instincts.

One of the people involved in the killing is a doctor. This feels wrong, because doctors are supposed to help, not harm. Yet he justifies the killing and later refuses to eat the roe, showing he knows something was off. His role shows how people in trusted jobs can still be part of something cruel. The poem shows that being trained or educated does not always stop someone from making the wrong choice.

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The Heart Block Poem

by Undefined Poet

‘The Heart Block Poem’ is a short, four-line poem that was written in order to help medical students and medical professionals remember the degrees of heart blocks.

The poem is connected to the role of doctors and nurses, who need to understand heart blocks to provide effective patient care. It reflects the dedication and expertise required in the medical profession, emphasizing the importance of knowledge and its application in diagnosing and treating conditions that impact patients' lives.

If the R is far from the P, then you’ve got a 1st degree!

PR gets longer, longer, longer, drops, it’s a case of Wenckebach!

If some R’s don’t get through, prepare to pace that Mobitz II!

If the R’s & P’s don’t agree, prepare to pace that 3rd degree!

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The Cliché Kid

by Carol Ann Duffy

‘The Cliché Kid’ by Carol Ann Duffy speaks about a child’s struggle to let go of the past and the various images that haunt them.

In this poem, the speaker is addressing a doctor. It's not clear who this doctor is or what they specialize in. It seems likely that they're a therapist of some sort and that the speaker sought them out in order to find relief from their mental health struggles.

I need help, Doc, and bad: I can't forget

the rustle of my father's ballgown as he bent

to say goodnight to me, his French scent ...

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Checking Out Me History

by John Agard

‘Checking Out Me History’ confronts colonial education, celebrating unsung heroes of black history through vibrant dialect.

Agard very deliberately chose to juxtapose Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale in order to challenge readers' expectations of the past based on what they have learned as young people. The two nurses both volunteered in the same war but one is immensely famous while the other is comparatively obscure.

Dem tell me

Dem tell me

Wha dem want to tell me

#10

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Nationality: Canadian

Themes: Dark, Death, Desire, Disappointment, Failure

Emotions: Fear, Guilt, Hopelessness, Panic, Remorse, Stress, Terror

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Doctors and Nurses

Hatred, Illness, Madness, Mental Illness, Suffering

Form: Quatrain

Genre: Tragedy

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A Hero

by Robert Service

‘A Hero’ explores the dark struggle with violent urges, using simplicity to convey psychological conflict and tragic resolve.

Robert Service's mentally unwell narrator in 'A Hero' ultimately decides against informing doctors about his condition even though he acknowledges it is severe enough to warrant their help. It seemingly portrays doctors as anonymous agents who will only subdue him as, in the narrator's eyes, there is nothing they can do to treat his condition. While this view is likely untrue, it captures the mistrust that can exist between doctors and patients, which makes treating them all the more difficult.

Three times I had the lust to kill,

To clutch a throat so young and fair,

And squeeze with all my might until

No breath of being lingered there.

#11

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The Famine Road

by Eavan Boland

‘The Famine Road’ weaves Irish famine horrors with a tale of infertility, revealing deep scars of imperialism and personal loss.

Even though there is only one doctor in the poem, he represents something larger. The doctor’s cold and emotionless way of speaking shows how medical professionals can sometimes forget the human side of their work. He gives a painful diagnosis without care, showing no sympathy at all. Boland uses this moment to point out that people in these roles should do more than just give information—they should also show understanding, especially when someone is hurting.

Barren, never to know the load

of his child in you, what is your body

now if not a famine road?

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11 Must-Read Poems about Doctors and Nurses

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11 Must-Read Poems about Doctors and Nurses

by Seamus Heaney

by John Betjeman

by Charlotte Brontë

by Anne Sexton

by Walt Whitman

by Roderick Ford

by Undefined Poet

by Carol Ann Duffy

by John Agard

by Robert Service

by Eavan Boland

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