THE words of poets may reveal if they will take their own lives.
Poets are renowned for their suicidal nature—one review of 83 depressed
poets from the past found that a quarter of them had committed suicide. While
depression may predispose some people towards writing poetry, the very act of
expressing deep emotions may push others over the edge. Some scholars believe
this is what happened to American poet Sylvia Plath, who killed herself in
1963.
But James Pennebaker, a psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin,
wondered whether the poems themselves might reveal any suicidal tendencies.
“Poetry…
