Final Paper - Narrative Criticism

A POETIC APPROACH TO NARRATIVE MEDICINE 2
Abstract
This research looks at the speech and poetic work of Ted Kooser, the United States Poet
Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. This research draws
primarily upon the work of Kooser, as well as other notable rhetorical criticism pieces of
narrative artifacts in the past. Narrative pieces focuses on the personal aspect of writing that
connects the audience to the speaker and brings both those listening and speaking together under
a unified subject such as medicine. Kooser focuses on his connection with poetic greats such as
Karl Shapiro and the ways that his life indirectly influenced him to return to poetry, especially in
the face of a serious diagnosis. Through this research the question of how narrative can bring
different people together when facing a similar situation is addressed as well as how the use of
poetry in a narrative context might add another dimension to the connection due to the artistic
and unique approach to storytelling through poetry. The concept of narrative medicine and
creating a more humanized approach to the medical field is also addressed.
Keywords: Narrative, connections, audience, poetry, storytelling, narrative medicine

A Poetic Approach to Narrative Criticism
Ted Kooser delivered this speech on June 26, 2008 at the American College of
Physicians-Alaska Chapter meeting. “The American College of Physicians, or ACP, is a
national organization of internists — physician specialists who apply scientific knowledge and
clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the
spectrum from health to complex illness” (ACP American College of Physicians, 2015). Kooser
was addressing a physician group of internists, internal medicine subspecialists, medical
students, medical residents, and medical fellows striving to “to enhance the quality and
effectiveness of health care by fostering excellence and professionalism in the practice of
medicine” (ACP, 2015). As the United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library
of Congress from 2004-2006, Ted Kooser’s poetry has been collected in volumes, special
editions and has appeared in many literary periodicals (Ted Kooser, 2015).
Justification
Narrative medicine is defined as “medicine practiced with the narrative competence to
recognize, absorb, interpret, and be moved by the stories of illness” (Charon, 2006, p. vii). It is
the “compassionate care” quality of the ACP that corresponds with narrative medicine.
Narrative medicine has emerged as a result of combining both a humanistic aspect with the
medicinal aspect in healthcare in order to study doctor-patient relationships as well as
relationship-centered care. In her book, Charon references poetry and how she wishes she could
“present recurring concepts or images with simultaneity…mutually informing thinking and
actions” (Charon, p. xi). There is something to be said about poetry in the delivery of
information. It is the apprehension of temporality and ethicality which allow people to grow in
the understanding of how patients tell of themselves, their medical status, and their bodies. It is

in developing such a capacity for attention and representation that allows for total
comprehension of care and thus turning a patient into a person. Narratives, even in a medicinal
context, are “stories with a teller, a listener, a time course, a plot, and point” (Charon, p.3).
From teachers to novelists and patients to health professionals, all who write or listen to
narratives of illness interpret the stories, working to fully understand. It is about creating
bridges between patients and doctors, building community with other patients, and bringing
people together in a chaotic and scary time.
The objective of this speech is to show the importance of connecting people to their
healthcare and how “thinking about the words you write out with your hand” (Kooser, 2008) can
help people who are struggling with similar problems. It is about telling stories to connect
people and to add a humanistic aspect to healthcare, since medicine and healthcare is something
that often seems disconnected from the regular, everyday person. The action the speaker is
taking here is to describe what is happening in life through poetry, in a “unique book,” weaving
sentimental parts of life into poems, moments and epiphanies, jotting down obsessive
thoughts…all of these things help to create “clarity and order in a chaotic time” (Kooser, 2008).
Narrative writing provides opportunities to bring comfort or relief to situations, clarify
thinking, make sense of something, create community, and gain self-knowledge (Foss, 2009,
p.311-312). In Ted Kooser’s speech, all of these aspects are touched upon. The setting,
characters, narrator, events, relationships, audience, theme and type of narrative all affect the
objective of a narrative piece and it is important to identify these features and how they affect the
assessment of the narrative. Through his poetry, Kooser was able to bring clarity to his own life
as well as make sense out of chaos. Through his invitation to others to do the same, he creates a
sense of community between patients. He shares his own poetry as an example but also as a way

to bring to life the experiences that he and many others are facing. His presentation to an
audience of medical professionals allows for them to better understand a patient’s perspective
and brings the often dark, lonely or misunderstood aspects of being a patient into the light.
This speech raises the question of how poetry and the concept of personal narratives and
connections affect a speech (especially one to medical professionals, although trying to reframe
the ideas/concepts behind medicine and patient treatment/care). “The encounter between a
health professional and a patient lies at the heart of medicine” and there is a special relationship
formed between medical professionals and patients (Charon, 2006, p.33). According to Charon,
the professional may not be smart enough, patient enough, imaginative enough; a patient may not
be trusting enough, brave enough, or receptive enough (Charon, p. 33). Narrative, particularly in
the form of poetry, may decrease the gap between medical professionals and patients through
vulnerability, and human connection. Kooser wanted to “talk a little bit about what was
happening, in the event that it might be helpful to [the listener] at some point.” Order was
extremely important to Ted Kooser and his writing and poetry is his evidence that there is an
order to everything. In addressing the audience in a way that invites them to be a part of the
story creates a sense of community and connection. This theme of community and order is
present throughout Kooser’s speech and is summed up well in his last statements when he says “I
think if patients write letters to other people – real letters, not emails necessarily, but real letters
to other people where you actually have to think about the words you write out with your hand –
I think that surely could be of help to people. Again, it’s all this business about clarity and order
in a chaotic time” (Kooser, 2008).

Rhetorical Situation
Around the time of Ted Kooser’s speech and the rest of the early 2000s, there was a
growing popularity in medical narrative shows and documentaries. In a New York Times review
article, writer Alessandra Stanley portrayed these shows as “true traumas, for patients and
doctors,” stating that “Johns Hopkins is the place to go for a liver transplant, a gunshot wound, or
separating twins conjoined at the head” (Stanley, 2008, para. 1). The seriousness of those
realities is sharply contrasted by her comment stating “it’s also the place to go to make a
documentary about medicine.” Medical shows and documentaries like these “interweave the
narrative of one medical crisis with other story lines,” sometimes taking it even further
contrasting a scene of doctors panicking about a young child’s cardiac arrest with another scene
of a young surgeon rehearsing ballroom steps, almost as if to tell both the stories of the patients
and the doctors (Stanley, para. 8). Through images such as these, the viewers are able to see
both a story attached to the doctors, as well as the patients creating a more narrative experience
out of a seemingly detached experience associated with medicine and hospitals. Not only were
shows of this nature affecting the way viewers approached the medical experiences, I would
assume that doctors, physicians and medical professionals also take something away as well.
“Medicine is itself a more narratively inflected enterprise than it realizes” (Charon, 2006, p.39).
However, people did not necessarily agree that the emergency room was any place for
television cameras. Nevertheless, these shows created a connected experience for viewers and
the medical world. “The raw material is compelling and often moving, but the producers over-
refine it, real life matters of life and death don’t need that much adornment” (Stanley, 2008, para.
12). This so-called “reality programming,” was both creating a positive connection with viewers
and patients but also a negative over-glamorization of what is traditionally something very

serious – a person’s health. Such programming is Hollywood’s attempt to bridge the gap
between a person’s story and their health which could “open doors toward the search for
meaning in routine clinical practice” (Charon, 2006, p.200)?
Around the time of Kooser’s speech, many celebrities facing serious illness were making
headlines as both being an “inspiration” and “maintaining a game face” when confronted with a
severe diagnosis (Hoffman, 2008, para. 1). “As public figures are stricken with harrowing
illness, the images of them as upbeat, accompanied by stirring martial language, have almost
become routine” (Hoffman, para. 1). A sense of bravery was attached to such situations, creating
a story that tells of a journey through treatments and a battle against a disease, even for those
who are famous and far removed from our everyday lives. “Whether you're a celebrity or an
ordinary person, it's obligatory, no matter how badly you're feeling about it, to display optimism
publicly," said Dr. Barron H. Lerner, the author of "When Illness Goes Public" (Hoffman, para.
4). These images both inspire patients, as well as create unreal expectations about how one
should face a devastating diagnosis or change in their life.
While it is important to keep a positive attitude in the face of disease, it is also important
to remember the reality of the situation and tell a story not only reflecting accurate feelings about
what one is facing but also a realistic story about the nature of the disease or illness itself. It is in
this realistic expression that connections are created through narrative and storytelling.
“Everyone can't be brave” but everyone can have hope according to Rachel M. Schneider, a
clinical social worker at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (Hoffman, 2008, para. 8).
"Hopefulness is real," Schneider said, "but patients say, 'I have to be positive, I can't cry, I can't
let myself fall apart.' And that is a burden." Crying, falling apart and having hope are what bring
patients together in their times of trouble. The “burden” of being forced to remain positive is not

a true reflection of a person’s emotions and their story. “In the last 15 years, as patients have
become more outspoken, a mushrooming number of cancer narratives has legitimized a soulful
range of responses to illness” (Hoffman, para. 11). Ted Kooser was a part of this narrative
movement. According to Dr. Gary M. Reisfield, a palliative care specialist at the University of
Florida at Jacksonville, a patient's process through illness, requires the metaphor of a journey
with byways, crossroads, U-turns, changing destinations and wins, losses, and failures (Hoffman,
para. 14). For Kooser, his poetry was almost a means of catharsis, an outpouring of emotion
expressed in creative language, trying to establish some sort of order to all of the chaos. “If I
could come home from a walk in the middle of this feeling lousy and make a little square of
words with ever one in its perfect place, then I had seized a little bit of order” (Kooser, 2008).
Through these tiny bits of established order, Kooser “began feeling better,” by not only
physically responding well to treatment but also “the assurance that there was order in the world”
(Kooser, 2008). This search for order was in fact what brought Ted Kooser to writing poetry and
making sure that everything is “solved and tied up together” (Kooser,2008).
Ted Kooser was Poet Laureate of the United States from 2004 to 2006, and it was
through poetry that he connected the patient and the medical process (Kooser, 2008). Separating
from the glamorization of television and dramatic documentaries, Ted Kooser used words and
poetic language. “I wanted to be a writer,” stated Kooser blatantly in his 2008 speech at the
American College of Physicians-Alaska Chapter meeting. After beginning his poetry writing at a
young age, Ted soon learned that all he cared about was poetry (Kooser, 2008). Just as his
poetry became an escape and place of comfort for him during his illness, Kooser found his place
in poetry growing up as well. Upon graduating from Iowa State with a teaching degree in high
school English, he decided to enter graduate school after completing one year of teaching. “I

taught one year of high school English and didn’t like that, and decided that I would go to
graduate school and perhaps could figure out a way of teaching college English and so on,” and
so started Kooser’s search for “fulfilling work” (Kooser, 2008). “I was a terrible student,” said
Kooser about his experiences in graduate school, “I don’t know that I am innately stupid, but I
could not do the academic work that they wanted of me” (Kooser,2008). Kooser found himself
under the instruction of Karl Shapiro at the University of Nebraska. “I fastened myself to Karl
Shapiro the minute I got there, and we spent a whole year basically together, talking about poetry
and writing and so on” (Kooser, 2008). Shapiro was an American poet appointed as the fifth
Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress in 1946. “In the long run Shapiro's poetic reputation
rests, however, mainly on sharp snapshots of his era's everyday life--word pictures both elegant
and colloquial” (Moore, 2010). Through his poetry, Shapiro “found a place where proper
metrics and form could coexist with the controversial” (Moore, 2010, para. 4). Perhaps it was
from Shapiro’s influence that Kooser found inspiration in writing poems to connect the reader
with medicinal practices as well as his admiration of creativity and the non-traditional. Shapiro
himself did not complete his graduate studies after sporadically attending and eventually not
completing his studies at Johns Hopkins University (Meinke, 1989, para. 3). Kooser’s time at
the University of Nebraska was short lived as he was kicked out of the program for “bad
behavior” displayed in skipping classes and failing to “do anything that [he] was supposed to do”
during his assistantship (Kooser, 2008). Following his year spent in touch with Shapiro, Kooser
determined his need for a creative writing department which did not exist at that time. “There
was one class I didn’t show up for, ever,” said Kooser, “so they booted me out and I had to find
something to do” (Kooser, 2008).

After months of searching the want ads, Kooser eventually found himself at a life
insurance company, Bankers Life Nebraska, in Lincoln as a management trainee (Kooser, 2008).
At the insurance company, Kooser did a year of letter-writing to policy holders and eventually
moved into the medical underwriting part of it (Kooser, 2008). After working here for 35 years,
Kooser still could not find a concept of fulfilling work. He found himself in the position of Vice
President of this company as he noticed “everyone else falling away,” allowing him to “float to
the top” (Kooser, 2008). Without much passion for this work, Kooser found that success in work
like this came with attrition where he gradually became stronger and more effective in his work
with others effectiveness was gradually reduced. Holding a vice presidential position in public
relations for a substantial life insurance company “was a pretty high stress job,” especially upon
becoming an officer in the company (Kooser, 2008). Kooser also found added stress in his
mother’s illness and working with his sister to find an assisted living place for their mother, and
“driving back and forth to Cedar Rapids and letting things go” throughout this process (Kooser,
2008). Kooser experienced canker sores from stress and eventually developed a sore spot on the
back of his tongue. He put the appointments to get it checked out and eventually had to have it
biopsied. Upon receiving the results, Kooser discovered that this sore had become a squamous
cell carcinoma of the tongue (Kooser, 2008). And so began Kooser’s cancer treatment process
and finding fulfillment in what he has always known to be true, his writing.
In contrast to the narrative television shows and acts displaying bravery in Hollywood, as
well as those who are in the spotlight, Kooser’s work provides a real-life, down to earth
reflection of his fight against cancer. It is a sense of tangibility in his work that allows readers to
better connect to the situation and feel a sense of invitation into his story as well as the freedom
to better share their stories.

Organization and Style
Ted Kooser organizes his speech chronologically, developing the topic historically. He
starts with his past and the difficulties he faced both in his education process and career path in
finding something that he felt was worthwhile and meaningful for him. He works from the
beginning of his poetic career to the final outcome of the speech which is where he is standing at
that very moment, presenting his poetry before the crowd. He walks the listeners through the
many experiences which lead him toward, away from and back to poetry as well as the impact of
his cancer diagnosis on this process expressing how the poetry (which he is sharing the day of
the speech) was a form of therapy and healing.
According to Sonja Foss “a characteristic of a narrative is that the events in it are
organized by time order” (Foss, 2009, p.308). The way Kooser presents the events allows
listeners to follow along, appreciating the journey, which Kooser took to get to the point where
he was that day of the speech. “A narrative is not simply a series of events arranged randomly—
it is at least a sequence of events” (Foss, p. 308). Kooser establishes his early passion for the
arts, writing and poetry early on in his speech to lay the foundation for the body of his speech
which focuses on his search for meaningful work and ultimately his search for poetry. The
speech ends with Kooser ultimately regaining a connection with poetry as well as a regaining a
sense of himself through therapeutic poetic expression following a cancer diagnosis and
beginning his treatment.
This speech can be broken down into three statements:
1. A passion for poetry
2. A search for poetry
3. A need for poetry

The oral style is an important consideration of the speech because it creates the conversation
style that helps aid in the narrative process. His word choice is straightforward and clear and the
use of short, fragmented sentences, as if a conversation. The emotive expression of the speech of
course aids in the narrative nature but also portrays a clear deliberative attempt to connect the
listeners and the speaker. His words correlate with the general purpose of the speech which is to
create a connection between patients and doctors.
A Passion for Poetry
To fully understand Ted Kooser’s passion for poetry, one must return to his early life,
when he was just a child growing up in Ames, Iowa. He described himself as “one of those kids
who didn’t fit in too well” (Kooser, 2008). “Language is not self-explanatory, but rather reflects
the goals, motives, and values of those using it” (Medhurst, 1987, p. 218). The introduction
begins Kooser’s sequence of events when he discusses his childhood and how he felt like an
outsider but also driven to be mysterious and different, accomplishing just that in the arts. Right
away, Kooser establishes his passion for the arts, setting him apart at a young age. He then goes
on to introduce his love of the poetic genre, discussing how he wrote a lot during his high school
years. He jumped ahead to a more present time, talking about his 50th high school reunion and
how someone still had his poems from high school. This reference interrupted the chronology of
the story but it created a sort of bridge connecting the past to the present, proving the timeless
nature of poetry but more specifically the poems pertaining to Kooser’s life. His passion for
writing poetry even outweighed educational priorities, eventually being “booted out of graduate
school for bad behavior” (Kooser, 2008). His language in describing the influence of poetry on
his early life was direct. “I fastened myself to Karl Shapiro,” speaking of his time spent under
Shapiro’s guidance in graduate school (Kooser, 2008). “We spent the whole year basically

together, talking about poetry and writing and so on” (Kooser, 2008). Kooser makes a point that
he was not caught off guard by this situation though, casually making note that “I had seen this
coming, of course” (Kooser, 2008).
A Search for Poetry
“So I wanted to be a writer,” said Kooser. He always made a point to come back to this
central idea, which he repeatedly returns to throughout the speech. He discusses a time of career
searching, only to find emptiness in his work, constantly coming back to writing and poetry as a
sense of grounding and fulfillment. It is when poetry becomes a portion of his healing process
that the speech comes full circle and the audience understands the full value of poetry in Ted
Kooser’s life. Despite his strong desire to write, Kooser “accepted that [he] was going to have to
work at something” (Kooser, 2008). He talked about his work at the insurance company and
how it was a good job financially but “never particularly being passionate about the work at all”
despite his eventual vice presidential position (Kooser, 2008). Kooser does make a point to
mention that he moved into the medical underwriting part of the job, referencing his love of
writing and underlying search for what ultimately made him feel fulfilled in his work.
A Needfor Poetry
Through a poetic genre, narrative writing provides opportunities to bring comfort or relief
to situations, clarify thinking, make sense of something, create community, and gain self-
knowledge (Foss, 2009, p.311-312). Kooser invites the audience into his poetic journey,
providing vivid examples of his experiences growing up as well as examples of the poetry that
aided in his healing process. His need for poetry was made apparent upon discussion of his
cancer diagnosis.

Beginning with his conversation in the doctor’s office when asked how much public
speaking Ted does due to the possibility that the cancer treatment could result in speech
impairment. Kooser later found out that the doctor working with him checked out all of his
books and read them following that conversation (Kooser, 2008). “Now here’s a doctor for me,”
said Kooser, “and it has turned into a wonderful relationship” (Kooser, 2008). Kooser apparent
passion for poetry and writing stood out to the doctors treating him which is pertinent in the
conversation he is having with the audience in this speech. It humanized the cancer treatment
process and the doctor-patient relationship. This humanization as a result of the connection
made between two people through words and poetic expression. Ted Kooser was no longer a
patient to this doctor, but rather a poet and speaker who he was treating. It was through this
process of treatment and recovery that Kooser returned to his poetry, admitting “I’m a
compulsive writer” (Kooser, 2008).
It was through poetry that Kooser indirectly expressed his emotions and experiences with
his treatment, not only creating clarity in his own mind but offering comfort and security to
others that may be dealing with similar situations. The language used in this part of the speech
was creative and imaginative, allowing the listeners to create images in their minds from the
poems. As a preface to his poetry reading, Kooser paints a picture of a quarry road which is
subject in the first poem of his book (Kooser, 2008). “This road I call the quarry road because
there was a gravel quarry at the end of it, and the idea that I could walk down this road and back
and pick up something, a stone from the road, or see a bird, or something or other like that, and
come home and write about it, had a kind of specialness to it for me” (Kooser, 2008). This is a
great way to open his poetry reading because it not only lays the foundation for the creative
nature of the next part of this speech but it sets the scene for the beginning of his healing process

through words. The language and images here create a tangible connection to reality both for
Kooser and the audience.
Conclusion
Ted Kooser accomplishes three goals in his speech through the application of narrative
rhetoric. He is able to express to his audience an innate desire for poetry, search for poetry and
the necessity of poetry in his healing process. According to Sonja Foss, “narratives are found in
many different kinds of artifacts” (Foss, 2009, p. 307), and in this case the narrative is found in
poetry. In Ted Kooser’s speech at the American College of Physicians, he uses narrative rhetoric
as well as personal poetry to connect with his audience and tell the story of his journey through
life and illness. A poetic approach is unique because narratives are often identified with stories,
but, “narratives can be distinguished from other rhetorical forms by four characteristic” (Foss, p.
307). These components include being comprised of two events, time order organization, casual
relationship among events, and a unified subject. The two events are active and stative events
which are events that express action and express the condition respectively. When events are
organized in time order, the order of events recounted is clear. The causal or contributing
relationship among events in the story defines the nature of the depicted change. And finally, the
events must be about a unified subject, altogether creating personal involvement in a narrated
world for both the storyteller and the audience.
Ted Kooser directly connects to his audience by addressing them using words such as
“you,” “we,” and “our.” Connecting with the audience creates a community of storytellers
among the people in the room. He focuses on the significance that writing can have on a
person’s mind expressing that, “by writing our experience down, we get out of that muddle of all
that language just sort of drifting around in there” (Kooser, 2008). He speaks of experiences that

all people face, not only patients, such as waking up in times of stress with a “tape loop” running
through the mind saying, “I should have done this, I wish I said that,” over and over again
(Kooser, 2008). He simplifies the whole process his has discussed during his speech into
“simply writing [thoughts] down on a notepad” (Kooser, 2008). The simplicity, personal
connection and real-life nature of this speech brings the audience back into connection with
themselves, but also each other through the art of writing.
Kooser’s speech included many personal narratives about his time growing up, as well as
his time searching for and finding work in his younger years. He also includes personal
narratives about his health struggles and freely shares his expression through his poetry readings.
Each of these narratives includes active and stative events, expressing his actions as well as the
conditions of the circumstances.
It is important to keep in mind the setting and audience for this speech. Kooser delivers
his stories directly to the audience which is comprised of medical professionals of all ages
looking to create a more personal and humanized doctor-patient relationship in medicine. Before
addressing more specific aspects of Kooser’s narrative, it is important to note the kernel and
satellite events which propel his story forward to the poetic culmination at the end. An important
satellite event might include Kooser’s story of his early childhood and teen years when he spoke
of his unique love of poetry. While he does not provide much more information about this
subject, he makes it clear that early in his life he had in interest in poetry and that he found a
place of comfort and solace in this. Kernel events would include his time with Karl Shapiro as
well as his cancer diagnosis. Both of these events were ones that caused trouble and adversity in
Kooser’s life, even if indirectly in terms of his experience with Shapiro. While his work with
Shapiro itself was not negative and, in fact, inspired growth, it eventually lead to his dropping

out of school. Although some may think of this as a setback, it created more of an incentive in
Kooser to keep pursuing his search for poetry.
The most obvious narrative characteristic in Kooser’s speech is the organization of
events. Kooser clearly organizes the speech in chronological order starting in his youth and
talking up to the exact point in time he is speaking to the audience. He includes flashbacks and
parts of other stories to bring the ideas in his speech full circle but, “the order does not have to be
chronological and may involve devices like flashbacks and flash-forwards, but at least the
narrative tells in some way how the events relate temporarily to one another” (Foss, 2009,
p.308). Overall, Kooser’s speech takes a chronological organization but he breaks the
chronology with other devices in order to keep the audience’s attention and reference other
stories to create further connections. I further broke down the organization of his speech into
three sections which depicted his passion, search and need for poetry. The early events of the
chronology including his youth and time as a student both were important aspects of describing
his passion for poetry. His search for poetry is addressed during the parts of the speech which
focus on his work-life up to his diagnosis. His discussion with the doctor about the possibility
for a speech impairment with the cancer treatment and Kooser’s realization about how this
particular doctor was concerned with not only healing Kooser, but also his quality of life and
what was important to him as a person (Kooser, 2008). From his diagnosis to his reading of
poetry, this part of the speech comprises the section portraying Kooser’s need for poetry.
The second characteristic includes the casual or contributing relationship among the
events in the story which ultimately help express the depicted change which takes place over the
course of action being described in the narrative. Basically, Kooser takes the audience through
the years of his search for and eventual finding of poetry in the times when he most needed it.

The causal events in the story include how in school he was not particularly involved in much,
but he found comfort in writing his poetry. Another causal relationship that was particularly
important to the progression of this narrative was Kooser’s academic association with Karl
Shapiro. Through his studying with Shapiro, Kooser realized the significance of poetry in his
life.
The third and final characteristic includes the unified subject. The subject throughout
Kooser’s speech includes that of a search for fulfillment through poetry. Whether it was in his
youth, his young working years, his successes in business, or his fight against cancer, Kooser
always addressed his desire search, need, and eventual return to poetry as a means of fulfillment
and expression. Although Kooser includes many different aspects of his story, there is a
common thread of poetry throughout his speech. He always makes a point to address his return
to poetry in times when he is searching for fulfillment in school, work, or his fight against
cancer.
The narrative world includes participants because it is particular, sharable and personal.
The particular aspects include specific details and images which connect the storyteller and the
audience through experiences. There is a joint achievement between storyteller and audience
which is sharable and creates rapport. The personal aspect includes the audience’s response to
the narrator’s evaluation of the world allowing the audience to engage in their own ethical and
moral inclinations, giving them another way to be involved in the story. It is through the act of
narrative that a speaker can connect with the audience, both to tell a story, and to create a sense
of oneness among those who can relate to the story or are intrigued by the topic. In terms of
healthcare and health communications, narrative communication helps build a bridge between
the doctor and the patient, creating a more personal and welcoming medical experience. It is

about creating positive out of a negative and taking the negative experience of medical adversity
and creating positive connections between those who are facing the same troubles.

References
ACP American College of Physicians. (2015). Internal Medicine - Doctors for Adults. Retrieved
from https://www.acponline.org/about_acp/who_we_are/
Charon, R. (2006). Narrative Medicine Honoring the Stories of Illness. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Foss, S. (1989). Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration & Practice. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland
Press.
Hoffman, J. (2008, June 10). Keeping a game face doesn't work for all cancer patients. Chicago
Tribune. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com
Kooser, T. (2015, September 27). About Ted Kooser. Retrieved from
http://www.tedkooser.net/about.shtml#pro
Kooser, T. (2008, June 26). Lecture presented at American College of Physicians-Alaska
Chapter meeting, Anchorage, Alaska.
Medhurst, M. J. (1987). Eisenhower's ‘atoms for peace’ speech: A case study in the strategic use
of language. Communication Monographs, 54(2), 204-220.
Meinke, P. (1989). A poet’s early years, Karl Shapiro’s autobiography. St. Petersburg Times.
Retrieved from search.proquest.com
Moore, J. R. (2010). Karl Shapiro. American National Biography. Retrieved from
www.lexisnexis.com
Stanley, A. (2008, June 26). Hospital's true traumas, for patients and doctors. New York Times
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com

Final Paper - Narrative Criticism

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