Favourite poems with a medical theme - 2012

To mark the launch of the 2012 International Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine, the organisers invited nominations of favourite poems with a medical theme.

Medical' was to be interpreted in the broadest sense, with only one nomination may be made by any one person. Nominations were to be from anyone anywhere in the world and for poems written by a poet from anywhere in the world and in any language. The poem were to be contemporary or from any historical period. The top 5 favourites were:

Dylan Thomas – Do not go gentle into that good night
William Butler Yeats - When you are old
Dannie Abse - The Pathology of Colours
Jo Shapcott - Of mutability
Stevie Smith - Not waving but drowning

You can see examples of comments received and find links to many of the submitted favourite poems at 'favourite poems on a medical theme'.

The Hippocrates Prize of £5000 for the winning poem is one of the highest value awards in the world for an unpublished poem in English on a medical theme.

Entries for the 2012 Awards are now closed.

2012 Hippocrates Prize judges include New York poet and critic Marilyn Hacker and medical researcher Professor Rod Flower, Fellow of the Royal Society. Awards will be presented on Saturday 12th May 2012 at the 3rd International Symposium on Poetry and Medicine, to be held at the Wellcome Collection in London. Registration is now open for the 2012 Hippocrates Awards Symposium.

This form is closed and is no longer accepting any submissions.

Thank you for your time.