Optimistic about the future, feminist Solnit sees the right panicking over liberalism’s advances. Her Gramsci quote echoes Matthew Arnold and Virginia Woolf.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Dover Beach", "Grande Chartreuse", Antonio Gramsci, Between the Acts, Fascism, Matthew Arnold, Virginia Woolf | Comments closed

Palm Sunday and Two Donkey Poems

By Robin Bates | Published: March 28, 2026

Two donkey poems to celebrate Palm Sunday, by G.K. Chesterton and Mary Oliver.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Donkey", “Poet Thinks about the Donkey", G.K. Chesterton, Mary Oliver, Palm Sunday | Comments closed

Lit in the Year after Justin’s Death

By Robin Bates | Published: March 27, 2026

In the year following Justin’s death, important works were Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Tennyson’s In Memoriam.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Adonais, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Black Cauldron, C.S. Lewis, death and dying, Grief Observed, In Memoriam, Lloyd Alexander, Percy Shelley, second death, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | Comments closed

The Courage of a Tennessee Librarian

By Robin Bates | Published: March 25, 2026

As a Tennessee library direct stands tall against a reactionary library board, I use Beowulf to reflect on the courage involved.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged banning books, Beowulf, libraries, Luanne James, Rutherford County Library Alliance | Comments closed

An Optimist Revises Yeats’s “Second Coming”

By Robin Bates | Published: March 24, 2026

Parodies of Yeats’s “Second Coming” and Williams’s “This Is Just to Say” provides us with a little midweek levity.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Second Coming", "This Is Just to Say", “Everything’s Fine :)", parody, William Carlos Williams | Comments closed

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Category Archives: Uncategorized

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