Tag Archives: Geoffrey Chaucer

Austen’s Revolutionary Style

By Robin Bates | Published: November 20, 2023

Austen may have innovated a way to blend satire with romance as a way to protect us from heartbreak.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Emma, Emma Bovary, free indirect style, Gustave Flaubert, Henry Fielding, Horace, ironic romance, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Tom Jones | Comments closed

Poets Talking Poetry over a Beer

By Robin Bates | Published: July 16, 2023

In this R.S. Thomas poem, two poets engage in the never-ending discussion of whether poetry is more craft or inspiration.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Circus Animals Desertion", "Poetry for Supper", Canterbury Tales, Ion, John Keats, Parliament of Fowls, Plato, R. S. Thomas, Squire's Tale, W. B. Yeats | Comments closed

The Poetry of Holy Bread

By Robin Bates | Published: June 10, 2023

I share a church talk on “The Poetry of Bread” where I shared poems by Levertov, Ungar, Neruda, Underhill, and others.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Bread", "Blessing the Bread", "Book of Verses", "Corpus Christi", "Meditation on John 6:51", "Ode to Bread", "Stepping Westward", Christ, Denise Levertov, Edward Taylor, eucharist, Evelyn Underhill, Lynn Ungar, Omar Khayyam, Pablo Neruda, Philip Pullman, Rubaiyat, Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale | Comments closed

Chaucer Doth Tweet

By Robin Bates | Published: October 26, 2022

Check out Chaucer Doth Tweet, a twitter account dedicated to Middle English parodies. It’s very much in the spirit of Chaucer.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Chaucer Doth Tweet, parody | Comments closed

Summer Solstice Unleashes Dark Forces

By Robin Bates | Published: June 20, 2022

Early works of Brit Lit used summer solstice imagery to explore clashes between Christian England and its pagan past.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Midsummer Night's Dream, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, summer solstice, Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Chaucer’s Miller & the Los Angeles Rams

By Robin Bates | Published: February 13, 2022

The LA Rams won the Super Bowl, bringing Chaucer’s Miller to mind.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Tyger, Canterbury Tales, Football, Miller, Super Bowl, William Blake | Comments closed

Chaucer Was No Sexist or Anti-Semite

By Robin Bates | Published: August 9, 2021

In which I agree with a recent article defending Chaucer against charges of sexism and anti-Semitism.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged anti-Semitism, Canterbury Tales, Prioress' Tale, Sexism, Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale | Comments closed

Trump & Chaucer’s Pardoner, Both Corrupt

By Robin Bates | Published: December 27, 2020

Trump’s abuse of the pardon system invites comparisons with the behavior of Chaucer’s Pardoner and Summoner.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Canterbury Tales, Donald Trump, Pardoner, Summoner, Trump's pardons | Comments closed

St. Paul, St. Thecla, and the Wife of Bath

By Robin Bates | Published: February 22, 2020

The Wife of Bath threads between visions of marriage articulated by St. Paul. In the process, she articulates a far more spiritual vision than that propagated by misogynist monks of the period.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Christian misogyny, Sexism, St. Paul, Wife of Bath | Comments closed