Very was institutionalized for a month at a hospital near Boston, the McLean Asylum, as he wrote, "contrary to my will". While there, he finished an essay on "Hamlet", arguing that the play is about "the great reality of a soul unsatisfied in its longings after immortality" and that "Hamlet has been called mad, but as we think, Shakespeare thought more of his madness than he did of the wisdom of the rest of the play". During his stay at the hospital, Very lectured his fellow patients on Shakespeare and on poetry in general.