In “Desert Places,” Frost finds despair in a handful of snow. Maybe he also has in mind Melville’s discourse on whiteness in “Moby Dick.”
Monthly Archives: December 2022
Winter Solstice and Desert Places
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Desert Places", existential search for meaning, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Robert Frost Comments closed
An Xmas Story about Political Polarization
Elizabeth Gaskell wrote a Christmas story in 1848 about rival political factions learning to get along. One can dream.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Christmas Storms and Sunshine", Christmas, Elizabeth Gaskell, political polarization, politics Comments closed
Dickens’s Evolving View of Christmas
Dickens didn’t so much invent Christmas–or even reinvent it–as supercharge it. “A Christmas Carol” was key in the endeavor.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Charles Dickens, Christmas, Christmas Carol, Haunted Man, It's a Wonderful Life, Joseph Addison, Pickwick Papers, Sketches by Boz Comments closed
Oliver’s “Bobcat” as an Advent Poem
Mary Oliver’s “Bobcat” can be read as a poem about the Advent promise.
French Team Resembles a Skunk Cabbage
How is the French soccer team like a skunk cabbage? I show how using a Mary Oliver poem.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged French National Team, Mary Oliver, Skunk cabbage, Soccer, World Cup Comments closed
To Know the Dark, Go Dark
If Wendell Berry’s “To Know the Dark” is about exploring depression, then Thomas Moore in “Care of the Soul” has some interesting ideas on the subject.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "To Know the Dark", Care of the Soul, Depression, Thomas Moore, Wendell Berry Comments closed
Kindred’s Race Lessons
Butler’s “Kindred” awakens us to our racial blindnesses.
Musk Needs a Shakespearean Fool
The world’s wealthiest man attempted comedy the other night but was booed off the stage. Shakespeare would understand.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged comic fools, comic satire, Gilbert and Sullivan, King Lear, Simpsons, Twelfth Night, W.S. Gilbert, William Shakespeare, Yeomen of the Guard Comments closed
France and England’s Titanic Match
To capture France-England’s titanic World Cup struggle, I turn to Ralph Ellison and Christina Rossetti.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Christina Rossetti, England, France, Goblin Market, Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison, Soccer, World Cup Comments closed
