Destroyers and other verses. Henry Head, the poet
S. G. Reich
Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD 21205.
Henry Head's literary contributions have gone virtually unnoticed despite
Lord Brain's contention that "Had Henry Head not adopted medicine as a
profession, he might have been equally distinguished as a writer." During
World War I, Head published war poems in several literary journals and in
1919 they were compiled into a volume entitled Destroyers and Other Verses.
Prior to Destroyers, Head published two other volumes of poetry and, in
1922, he wrote an introduction to a collection of works by Thomas Hardy,
compiled by his equally literate wife, Ruth. That the literary influence
between the Heads was mutual is revealed by the many references to medicine
and physicians in the novels of Ruth Head. This article presents the
literary works of Henry and Ruth Head and describes this little known but
important part of Sir Henry's career.
