Monthly Archives: February 2024

Literature in Time of War

By Robin Bates | Published: February 29, 2024

Poetry has always been present in times of war but with mixed success at improving conditions.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged burning books, Ernest Hemingway, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Hitler, Homer, Iliad, King John, Louis Untemeyer, Modern American and British Poetry, Nadezhda Mandelstam, Osip Mandelstam, Robert Graves, Stalin, Uncle Tom's Cabin, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Tim Scott’s Self-Debasement

By Robin Bates | Published: February 28, 2024

Sen. Tim Scott’s self-abasement before Donald Trump brings to mind various “Uncle Tom” poems written by Black authors.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "All of Us Are All of Us", "robert", "Uncle Tom", Donald Trump, Harriet Beecher Stowe, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Lindsey Graham, Lucille Clifton, racism, Tim Scott, Uncle Tom's Cabin | Comments closed

Revisiting “It Can’t Happen Here”

By Robin Bates | Published: February 27, 2024

Mother Jones columnist David Corn finds increasing relevance in Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel “It Can’t Happen Here.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1984, Donald Trump, Fascism, George Orwell, It Can't Happen Here, MAGA, Sinclair Lewis | Comments closed

Revolutionary Mother Goose

By Robin Bates | Published: February 26, 2024

Mother goose rhymes, nonsense verse, and playful fantasy are essential to our mental health.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Owl and the Pussycat", Age of Reason, Alice in Wonderland, Alice through the Looking Glass, anarchy, Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss, Edward Lear, Essay on Human Understanding, John Locke, Lewis Carroll, Mother Goose | Comments closed

What Are Days For? Larkin’s Non Answer

By Robin Bates | Published: February 25, 2024

In “Days,”Larkin urges us to make the most of each day.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Days", "Garden of Love", living in the moment, Macbeth, Philip Larkin, William Blake, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Every Stone and Every Star a Tongue

By Robin Bates | Published: February 24, 2024

17th century poet Traherne as an early version of Green Gospel, a recent book by John Gatta.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Dumbness", "Sand Is Endless", Alfred Lord Tennyson, Environmentalism, Green Gospel, John Gatta, Nature, Thomas Traherne, Trinity, Walking, William Blake | Comments closed

Conquering the Darkness Within

By Robin Bates | Published: February 22, 2024

Pratchett’s novel “Thud!” is a plea to find inner strength rather than yielding to blind rage.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Buch-Cheney administration, Donald Trump, Islamic fundamentalism, Terrorism, Terry Pratchett, Thud!, Tom Nichols | Comments closed

Leo, the Napoleon of Rightwing Courts

By Robin Bates | Published: February 21, 2024

Leonard Leo, who has been successful remaking the Supreme Court, resembles Doyle’s Professor Moriarty.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Arthur Conan Doyle, Leonard Leo, Professor Moriarty, rightwing judiciary, Sherlock Holmes | Comments closed

In Betraying Ukraine, Graham Is an Oswald

By Robin Bates | Published: February 20, 2024

In betraying Ukraine, Sen. Lindsey Graham is showing a sycophancy to Trump that is similar to that of Oswald for Goneril.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged King Lear, Lindsey Graham, Oswald, Russian Invasion of Ukraine, U.S. Senate, Ukraine, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Monthly Archives: February 2024

Literature in Time of War

Tim Scott’s Self-Debasement

Revisiting “It Can’t Happen Here”

Revolutionary Mother Goose

What Are Days For? Larkin’s Non Answer

Every Stone and Every Star a Tongue

Conquering the Darkness Within

Leo, the Napoleon of Rightwing Courts

In Betraying Ukraine, Graham Is an Oswald

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