A student with Crohn’s disease found a kindred soul in Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner.
Monthly Archives: May 2016
Crohn’s Disease and the Mariner’s Agony
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Crohn's disease, Illness, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Suffering Comments closed
Trollope & Trump’s Willing Enablers
Trollope describes gentry who enable to a scandalous financier in “The Way We Live Now.” Parallels can be drawn with those members of the GOP who are reconciling with Donald Trump.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Anthony Trollope, Donald Trump, Fascism, GOP, Presidential politics, Way We Live Now Comments closed
Lily, Achilles, Bertha & Ishmael on Vacation
Lily Bart, Bertha Mason, Achilles, Ishmael and Queequeg all go on vacation. Where do they go?
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Charlotte Bronte, Herman Melville, Homer, House of Mirth, Iliad, Jane Eyre, Moby Dick, vacations, Wharton (Edith) Comments closed
Trump’s Use of the Homeric Epithet
Donald Trump is making regular use of “the Homeric epithet.” He doesn’t use it as well as Homer, however.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump, Homer, Iliad, Odyssey, politics Comments closed
Nature and “My Babe So Beautiful”
I saw my latest grandchild for the first time yesterday. Although it was beautiful spring day, Coleridge’s beautiful “Frost at Midnight” came to mind. That’s because the poet imagines “the great universal teacher” imparting a spirit of inquiry to his infant son.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Frost at Midnight", grandchildren, Samuel Taylor Coleridge Comments closed
How To Pin Down Protean Donald Trump
Trying to pin down Donald Trump is like trying to pin down Proteus. But maybe that means that reporters can use the same tactics that Menelaus does to capture the sea god.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, Homer, Journalism, Odyssey, political journalism Comments closed
How Trump Is Changing the Discourse
Adam Gopnik of “New Yorker” and Andrew Sullivan of “New York” are very, very frightened by the rise of Trump. As they explain why, they quote Tom Stoppard, Sinclair Lewis, Mark Twain, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Plato.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, Fascism, GOP, Huckleberry Finn, It Can't Happen Here, J. R. R. Tolkien, Jumpers, Lord of the Rings, Mark Twain, politics, Presidential politics, protofascism, Sinclair Lewis, Tom Stoppard Comments closed
Crown My Head with Ample Square-Cap
Christopher Smart’s “On Taking a Bachelor’s Degree” is deliberately excessively self-congratulatory. Still, students should feel proud of themselves for graduating.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "On Taking a Bachelor's Degree", Christopher Smart, colleges and universities, commencement, graduating class, students Comments closed
#NeverTrump! Never! Never! Never! Never?
Many who vowed NeverTrump are backing away from the word “never.” “Never” is an important word in “King Lear” and Lear, unlike Lear’s opponents, doesn’t back away from it.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, King Lear, Marco Rubio, politics, Presidential politics, Republican primaries, William Shakespeare Comments closed
