Monthly Archives: June 2013

Ah, Those Sensuous Summer Days

By Robin Bates | Published: June 21, 2013

Emily Dickinson has written the most passionate summer poem I know.

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The Zen of an Old Growth Forest

By Robin Bates | Published: June 20, 2013

Biologist David Haskell approaches forests in a way that is both scientific and poetic.

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When Surveillance Is Incompetent

By Robin Bates | Published: June 19, 2013

When, in a post last week, I found parallels between the National Security Agency’s extensive data mining attempts and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, I neglected to mention (as this New Yorker essay does) that one has to be careful with books that have themselves become symbols. When this happens, they become like clichés, losing their […]

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Reading to Learn Who We Are

By Robin Bates | Published: June 18, 2013

Vivian Gornick reflects on why Colette and Mary McCarthy meant so much to her as a 20-something in the 1950s.

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Hiding behind the “I” in Lit Essays

By Robin Bates | Published: June 17, 2013

Using “I” in literature essays doesn’t necessarily lead to more engagement with the work.

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The Deep (Not Scientific) Truth of Genesis

By Robin Bates | Published: June 16, 2013

The Book of Genesis, like poetry, captures truths inaccessible to science.

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The Spurs as Auden’s Unknown Citizen

By Robin Bates | Published: June 15, 2013

The San Antonio Spurs as so perfect that they’re boring–like Auden’s “Unknown Citizen.”

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In Solitary Others We See Ourselves

By Robin Bates | Published: June 14, 2013

When a Maine hermit is arrested after 27 years in solitude, we project our stories upon him.

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For My Father’s 90th Birthday

By Robin Bates | Published: June 13, 2013

I celebrate my father’s 90th birthday today with R. S. Thomas’ rich poem about visiting a 90-year-old woman.

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