Monthly Archives: February 2024

Trump’s Love Test Resembles Lear’s

By Robin Bates | Published: February 8, 2024

Trump, like Lear, sets up love tests for followers. South Carolina Sen. Scott recently “passed” in the same way that Goneril and Regan pass.

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Comforting Children under Attack

By Robin Bates | Published: February 7, 2024

A Joseph Fasano poem about attempting to shield children from the horrors of war.

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Candide and the Deep State

By Robin Bates | Published: February 6, 2024

Members of the MAGA cult resemble the Baron of Thunder-ten-Tronckh in “Candide.”

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Pratchett on How Guns Possess Us

By Robin Bates | Published: February 5, 2024

Note: If you wish to receive, via e-mail, (1) my weekly newsletter or (2) daily copies of these posts, notify me at [email protected] and indicate which you would like. I promise not to share your e-mail address with anyone. To unsubscribe, send me a follow-up email. Tuesday I’ve been listening to Terry Pratchett fantasy novels as I drive […]

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The Gender Battle in Pope’s Card Game

By Robin Bates | Published: February 4, 2024

In which I share a talk I am giving on the card game played in “Rape of the Lock.”

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The Otherworldly Cry of the Loon

By Robin Bates | Published: February 3, 2024

Nemerov’s “Loon’s Cry” searches for the transcendent in our world.

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T.S. Eliot Meets Groundhog Day

By Robin Bates | Published: February 1, 2024

If the groundhog sees its shadow today, will it fall into existential despair?–which is Eliot’s response to shadows in “The Waste Land.”

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