E14 Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Send us Fan MailDescription: An immersive reading of excerpts from ‘Aurora Leigh’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning with reflection on the benefits of illness, social determinants of health and discharging people experiencing homelessness. WorkShe stirred;—the place seemed new and strange as death.The white strait bed, with others strait and white,Like graves dug side by side, at measured lengths,And quiet people walking in and outWith wonderful low voices and soft steps,And apparitional equal care for each,Astonished her with order, silence, law:And when a gentle hand held out a cup,She took it, as you do at sacrament,[…]I think it frets the saints in heaven to seeHow many desolate creatures on the earthHave learnt the simple dues of fellowshipAnd social comfort, in a hospital,As Marian did. She lay there, stunned, half tranced,And wished, at intervals of growing sense,She might be sicker yet, if sickness madeThe world so marvellous kind, the air so hushed,And all her wake-time quiet as a sleep;[…]She lay and seethed in fever many weeks,But youth was strong and overcame the test;Revolted soul and flesh were reconciledAnd fetched back to the necessary dayAnd daylight duties. She could creep aboutThe long bare rooms, and stare out drearilyFrom any narrow window on the street,Till some one, who had nursed her as a friend,Said coldly to her, as an enemy,‘She had leave to go next week, being well enough,’While only her heart ached. ‘Go next week,’ thought she,‘Next week! how would it be with her next week,Let out into that terrible street aloneAmong the pushing people, ... to go ... where?’ References Aurora Leigh: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/56621/56621-h/56621-h.htm Elizabeth Barret Browning: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/elizabeth-barrett-browning  Fitzpatrick-Lewis D, Ganann R, Krishnaratne S, Ciliska D, Kouyoumdjian F, Hwang SW. Effectiveness of interventions to improve the health and housing status of homeless people: a rapid systematic review. BMC Public Health. 2011;11:638.