Yesterday I talked about irresponsible political commentators and politicians and how they reminded me of the scribblers that John Dryden was worried about in the 1680’s. In the 1740’s Alexander Pope was even more pessimistic about the threat they posed. In The Dunciad he imagines an inevitable cultural slide until “universal darkness buries all.” Harold […]
Tag Archives: Alexander Pope
Enough Already, Rush, Glenn, Shadwell!
Last week when I complained about Christopher Hitchens, I think I was reacting as much to the incessant chatter of pundits as to Hitchens himself. At present there appear to be non-stop voices competing with each other to see who can make the most outrageous claims or confrontational statements, whether on talk radio, cable television, […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Dunciad, Glenn Beck, John Dryden, Mac Flecknoe, politics, Rush Limbaugh, satire, Talk Shows Comments closed
The Poetry of Spanish Soccer
The incomparable Xavi Sports Saturday Spanish sports is having a great year. First of all, Spanish forward Pau Gasol was a major reason why the Los Angeles Lakers won their 16th championship in an archetypal series against the Boston Celtics. Then we were officially ushered from the Age of Federer into the Age of Nadal […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Jonathan Swift, Netherland, Soccer, Spain, Sports, World Cup Comments closed
Sarah Palin and All the King’s Men
The political world seems to be agog over Sarah Palin these days, with Joel Klein of Time and David Broder of The Washington Post, two columnists I respect, telling us to take her very seriously. This has got me thinking of fictional populists, especially Willie Stark in Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men (1946), one of […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged All the King's Men, Epistle to Arburthnot, politics, Populism, Robert Penn Warren, Sarah Palin Comments closed
Using Twilight to Teach Antigone
Having compared Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight yesterday with Frances Burney’s Evelina, I feel I owe my readers an apology and an explanation. The apology is that I violated one of my principles for the website and judged the book by the movie. All I’ve read of Twilight is the excerpt on amazon.com. If I sell the […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged adolescence, Antigone, Dunciad, Father-daughter conflict, Sophocles, Stephenie Meyer, teaching Comments closed
