Leading literary figure claims answer to happiness lies in poetry.

From self-help books to therapy, the business of helping people in need is today a multi-million pound industry.

But a leading literary figure claims answer to happiness lies in the literary – in the form of poetry.

William Sieghart, founder of National Poetry Day and the Forward Prizes For Poetry, is using his life-long passion for poetry to help people overcome their problems.

Touring festivals and libraries around the country, he invites people to come to him with their difficulties and anxieties and “prescribes” them poetry in return.

Today Sieghart is bringing his Poetry on Prescription concept to London by inviting people to come to him with their problems at St John’s Wood Library.

He offers them a poem or a section of a poem to learn off by heart, put on their mirror and repeat to themselves whenever they feel low.

He said among the most common problems are fear of new beginnings, loneliness and sleeplessness.

He said: “I’ve always thought poetry is particularly good at points of difficulty. That sense that people feel understood. There is this sense that if you feel burdened by something that if you find that burden expressed appropriately it can feel quite cathartic, make you feel not so alone.”

As part of the event he will share readings from his anthology Winning Words: Inspiring Poems for Everyday Life which includes ancient and modern poems selected to inspire readers to get through the difficulties of daily life.

He first tried out the idea at the Port Eliot Festival in Cornwall last summer as an experiment. But he was shocked to find that six hours later people were still queuing to see him, which encouraged him to hold more sessions.

He said one of his favourite passages to treat loneliness is by Persian poet Hafiz. It reads: “I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being”.

Sieghart said: “I say to people who are lonely or unhappy ‘learn this off by heart, stick it on your mirror and use it as a mantra when you’re feeling very low’.”

Another poem he commonly uses to help people to overcome fear is Come To The Edge, by Christopher Logue: “Come to the edge. / We might fall. / Come to the edge. / It’s too high! / COME TO THE EDGE! / And they came, / and we pushed, / And they flew.”

He said one person he prescribed a poet to contacted him by email to thank him, saying that after his home was robbed, the only thing that got him through the trauma was the poem which he found stuck to his mirror.