The Story of the Body

A major new anthology about illness—eighty-two essential poems spanning four centuries, edited by New York Times best-selling author Meghan O'Rourke.

Illness is one of humanity’s most universal experiences, yet it is often endured privately and in silence. When Meghan O’Rourke, esteemed poet, editor, and author of The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness, fell ill in her thirties, she turned to poetry for company and consolation. The Story of the Body emerges from that experience—a landmark anthology spanning four centuries and gathering eighty-two of the most vital and inspiring poems in English, including work by John Donne, Emily Dickinson, and contemporary poets such as Danez Smith and Victoria Chang.

Organized around the arc of illness—crisis and diagnosis, clinical encounters, caretaking, metaphysical reckoning, and resilience—these poems refuse euphemism. They capture the terror and tenderness of the sickroom, the love of caregivers, and the strange grace that suffering can yield. For patients, clinicians, students, and anyone seeking to understand life in a vulnerable body, these poems offer comfort, respite, and companionship.