Author Archives: Robin Bates

The Heartbreak in the Heart of Things

By Robin Bates | Published: May 26, 2024

For Memorial Day, here’s a simple but powerful poem by World War I veteran Wilfrid Wilson Gipson.

By Robin Bates | Published: May 25, 2024

To understand the Trinity, think of yourself sitting in nature and seeing God both in and beyond your surroundings.

By Robin Bates | Published: May 23, 2024

Swift anticipated ChatGPT in “Gulliver’s Travels,” along with the problems that have arisen.

By Robin Bates | Published: May 22, 2024

Why do goldfinches sing? Why do poets write poems? According to Oliver, “for sheer delight and gratitude.”

By Robin Bates | Published: May 21, 2024

Shakespeare understood race at a deep level, whiteness and blackness both. In “Titus Andronicus” a character declares that Black is beautiful.

By Robin Bates | Published: May 20, 2024

Atwood’s “Cicadas” depicts the sexual urges that drive the insect.

By Robin Bates | Published: May 19, 2024

Both Trump and Don Quixote have an animus against windmills. The resemblances end there, however.

By Robin Bates | Published: May 18, 2024

There’s a Pentecostal scene in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” that captures the excitement of the Holy Spirit’s descent.

By Robin Bates | Published: May 16, 2024

Philosophical anthropologist René Girard owes his ideas about mimetic desire to literature.