Monthly Archives: March 2012

King Lear’s Sexual Epithets vs. Women

It’s not only Rush Limbaugh and Bill Maher who are use sexual epithets to denigrate women. King Lear does it too.

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Enough with Fixating on Female Sexuality

Rachel Kranz’s fiction shows how to step up with acquaintances use offensive sexist language.

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Depth of Sea, Firmness of Rock, God

The magnificent poet attributed to St. Patrick looks to nature to provide images for God’s strength and support.

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Falstaff and the Stolen Valor Act

Shakespeare’s Falstaff would be in violation of the Stolen Valor act, now being challenged before the Supreme Court.

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Lost in America – A Van Winkle Moment

Patrick Logan, freelance writer and regular reader of this blog, sent me a marvelous essay about cultural dislocation that he wrote for the Manchester Union Leader. (I’ve made reference to previous articles that Patrick has written here). Patrick uses the famous Washington Irving story abut Rip Van Winkle to process his own shock when, returning […]

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Bold Traveler, Set out for Ithaka (or Paliki)

Historical research suggests that Odysseus’s island may have been Paliki, not Ithaka. Cavafy’s poem “Ithaka” informs us that it doesn’t matter.

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War’s Human Costs (So Rethink Iran)

Levertov’s “What Were They Like” gives us a poem that may help dampen hysteria about going to war with Iran.

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Plucking Out the Fangs of Hate

Gibran’s version of Jesus driving the moneychangers from the temple wonders how he pulled it off.

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