Monthly Archives: December 2012

The Fiscal Cliff as Kubla Khan’s Chasm

By Robin Bates | Published: December 31, 2012

Our looming fiscal cliff can be imagined as Coleridge’s “deep romantic chasm” in “Kubla Khan.”

By Robin Bates | Published: December 30, 2012

John Donne’s poem on the Nativity shows us a way out of our imprisoned existence.

By Robin Bates | Published: December 29, 2012

In 2010 Carol Ann Duffy compared Beckham to Achilles after he went down with an injury to his Achilles tendon.

By Robin Bates | Published: December 28, 2012

My sons’ special friendship brings to mind Laura and Lizzie’s friendship in “Goblin Market.”

By Robin Bates | Published: December 27, 2012

A copy of Shakespeare’s works that circulated through apartheid-era prisons shows the Bard providing solace for the prisoners.

By Robin Bates | Published: December 26, 2012

Tolkien criticized the looseness of C. S. Lewis that prompted him to put Santa Claus and a variety of myth traditions in Narnia.

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By Robin Bates | Published: December 25, 2012

In Scott Bates’s updated nativity scene, there is no room for Mary and Josephn in the Holiday Inn.

By Robin Bates | Published: December 24, 2012

Applying “Hichhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” to the nativity scene opens up interesting perspectives on the animals that are present.

By Robin Bates | Published: December 23, 2012

Anne Porter shows us how “the fresh truth of children” is central to the Christmas experience.