Poetry has been woven into nearly every culture throughout history, but its impact on the brain and body remains unclear. In an intriguing study, “Wassiliwizky” et al. set out to uncover how poetry affects our emotions and brain activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This interesting study conducted experiments to explore the emotional effects of reading poetry by monitoring physical responses such as heart rate and skin reactions, key indicators of emotional arousal. They also measured chills and goosebumps using cameras and self-reports, zeroing in on these peak emotional moments to observe poetry\u2019s impact. Additionally, they analysed facial muscle activity to determine if these emotional peaks were linked to feelings of joy or sadness. By comparing responses to familiar and unfamiliar poems, the study explored how personal connection influences emotional reactions and whether these responses change with repeated reading poetry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The findings reveal that poetry can evoke powerful emotional reactions, like chills and goosebumps, which are intense, pleasurable experiences often connected to personal significance. These responses activate brain areas involved in body awareness and emotional processing, making these moments memorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both poetry enthusiasts and those new to poetry experienced chills, highlighting poetry\u2019s emotional power. The study also found that chills and goosebumps respond differently with repeated reading poetry. Elements of poetic structure, such as rhyme and meter, were found to trigger these reactions by creating anticipation and emotional climaxes, particularly at the ends of lines, stanzas, or entire poems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interestingly, poetry was also shown to evoke a blend of emotions, mixing pleasure with feelings like sadness, which can deepen the emotional impact. This emotional blend activates brain regions linked to reward and social understanding, showing that poetry engages the mind uniquely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, this research underscores poetry\u2019s profound emotional effects and its unique ability to connect with us on a deep, often subconscious level, much like music and other art forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reference:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wassiliwizky, Eugen, et al. “The emotional power of poetry: Neural circuitry, psychophysiology and compositional principles.” Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 12.8 (2017): 1229-1240.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photo by: Wassiliwizky et al; 2017<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Verse and nerve, the hidden power of poetry on the human mind Poetry has been woven into nearly every culture throughout history, but its impact on the brain and body remains unclear. In an intriguing study, “Wassiliwizky” et al. set out to uncover how poetry affects our emotions and brain activity. This interesting study conducted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[97],"tags":[104,125],"class_list":["post-1898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issues","tag-education","tag-research"],"acf":[],"mb":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2024-09-15_13-22-30.jpg?fit=1012%2C408&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2024-09-15_13-22-30.jpg?fit=1012%2C408&ssl=1",1012,408,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2024-09-15_13-22-30.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2024-09-15_13-22-30.jpg?fit=300%2C121&ssl=1",300,121,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2024-09-15_13-22-30.jpg?fit=768%2C310&ssl=1",768,310,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2024-09-15_13-22-30.jpg?fit=1012%2C408&ssl=1",1012,408,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2024-09-15_13-22-30.jpg?fit=1012%2C408&ssl=1",1012,408,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2024-09-15_13-22-30.jpg?fit=1012%2C408&ssl=1",1012,408,true],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2024-09-15_13-22-30.jpg?fit=18%2C7&ssl=1",18,7,true],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2024-09-15_13-22-30.jpg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1",300,300,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2024-09-15_13-22-30.jpg?fit=600%2C242&ssl=1",600,242,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2024-09-15_13-22-30.jpg?resize=100%2C100&ssl=1",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Oliver Vass","author_link":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/author\/oliver\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Verse and nerve, the hidden power of poetry on the human mind Poetry has been woven into nearly every culture throughout history, but its impact on the brain and body remains unclear. In an intriguing study, “Wassiliwizky” et al. set out to uncover how poetry affects our emotions and brain activity. This interesting study conducted…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1581,"url":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/projects\/last-kiss-poetry-collection\/","url_meta":{"origin":1898,"position":0},"title":"Diktsamlingen \"The Last Kiss\"","author":"Oliver Vass","date":"26 juli 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Vi er glade for \u00e5 kunngj\u00f8re en ny diktsamling av den iranske poeten Mehdi Mousavi, som har unnsluppet sensur og fengsling i Iran. Hans nyeste verk, fylt med motstandskraft og skj\u00f8nnhet, vil snart bli utgitt. Et forh\u00e5ndsvisningshefte med utvalgte dikt vil v\u00e6re tilgjengelig snart. F\u00f8lg med for flere detaljer!","rel":"","context":"i "Projects"","block_context":{"text":"Projects","link":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/.\/projects\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/mehdi_image-e1734367183491.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/mehdi_image-e1734367183491.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/mehdi_image-e1734367183491.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/mehdi_image-e1734367183491.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/mehdi_image-e1734367183491.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1418,"url":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/our-people\/samuel-tongue\/","url_meta":{"origin":1898,"position":1},"title":"Samuel Tongue","author":"Oliver Vass","date":"20 august 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Samuel Tongue, esteemed poet and editor, released his first full collection, \"Sacrifice Zones,\" in 2020, and has several pamphlets to his name. Published in notable journals and serving as an editor for literary publications, he's also judged prominent poetry awards. Multilingual and engaged in literary events, Tongue shapes Scotland's literary\u2026","rel":"","context":"i "Our People"","block_context":{"text":"Our People","link":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/.\/our-people\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Samuel Tongue. copyright Alan McRedie","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/samuel-tongue-scaled-e1706545551229.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/samuel-tongue-scaled-e1706545551229.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/samuel-tongue-scaled-e1706545551229.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/samuel-tongue-scaled-e1706545551229.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/samuel-tongue-scaled-e1706545551229.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2681,"url":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/projects\/translation-across-borders\/","url_meta":{"origin":1898,"position":2},"title":"Oversettelse p\u00e5 tvers av grenser","author":"Oliver Vass","date":"15 mai 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Cross Cultural Translation Workshop Translation Across Borders is a series of six public workshops exploring poetry and the art of translation across languages and cultures, with a focus on exile, censorship, and creative resistance. Curated by poet and translator Fatemeh Ekhtesari, each event invites participants into a hands-on translation process,\u2026","rel":"","context":"i "Projects"","block_context":{"text":"Projects","link":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/.\/projects\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/Translation-Workshop-Poster-Norwegian-1-1-e1745233946287.png?fit=350%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1817,"url":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/projects\/minipods\/","url_meta":{"origin":1898,"position":3},"title":"Behind The Lines – Mini Pods","author":"Oliver Vass","date":"24 august 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In our new mini-podcast series, we dive into the process of translating and editing Farsi poetry through engaging conversations between Fatemeh Ekhtesari, an Iranian poet and translator living in Norway, and Oliver Vass, a publisher and editor. These discussions explore not just the technical aspects of translation but also the\u2026","rel":"","context":"i "Projects"","block_context":{"text":"Projects","link":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/.\/projects\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Behind the lines mini pod","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/mini_pod.jpg?fit=1054%2C1059&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/mini_pod.jpg?fit=1054%2C1059&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/mini_pod.jpg?fit=1054%2C1059&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/mini_pod.jpg?fit=1054%2C1059&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/mini_pod.jpg?fit=1054%2C1059&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1434,"url":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/our-people\/fatemeh-ekhtesari\/","url_meta":{"origin":1898,"position":4},"title":"Fatemeh Ekhtesari","author":"Oliver Vass","date":"20 august 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Fatemeh Ekhtesari, an Iranian poet, writer, and activist. Her evocative poetry transcends languages, touching on universal themes. Uncover her resilience and dedication to activism, particularly in addressing gender discrimination and women's rights. Ekhtesari's literary journey is a poignant exploration of the transformative impact of words and advocacy.","rel":"","context":"i "Our People"","block_context":{"text":"Our People","link":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/.\/our-people\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fatemeh Ekhtesari","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2024-01-30-140033.png?fit=1200%2C1179&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2024-01-30-140033.png?fit=1200%2C1179&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2024-01-30-140033.png?fit=1200%2C1179&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2024-01-30-140033.png?fit=1200%2C1179&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2024-01-30-140033.png?fit=1200%2C1179&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1831,"url":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/issues\/majnun-persian-literary-characters\/","url_meta":{"origin":1898,"position":5},"title":"Majnun \u2013 Persian Literary Characters","author":"Oliver Vass","date":"2 september 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"As we continue our exploration of iconic characters from Persian poetry, building up to the release of our own translated collection, we turn our attention to one of the most enduring figures in Persian literary tradition: Majnun. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AdU_JsPBC3M&t=12s Majnun is the tragic protagonist of the legendary love story Layla and\u2026","rel":"","context":"i "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/.\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/Layla_and_Majnun2-scaled.jpg?fit=742%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/Layla_and_Majnun2-scaled.jpg?fit=742%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/Layla_and_Majnun2-scaled.jpg?fit=742%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sicpublish.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/Layla_and_Majnun2-scaled.jpg?fit=742%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"mfb_rest_fields":["title","jetpack_publicize_connections","jetpack_featured_media_url","uagb_featured_image_src","uagb_author_info","uagb_comment_info","uagb_excerpt","jetpack_sharing_enabled","jetpack-related-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1898"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1900,"href":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898\/revisions\/1900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sicpublish.no\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}