Tag Archives: analysis

In Memory of Daniel Berrigan

By Robin Bates | Published: May 2, 2016

Daniel Berrigan, Jesuit activist and poet, died this past Saturday. His “A Dark Word” is a fitting way to note his passing.

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The Frolic Architecture of the Snow

By Robin Bates | Published: January 27, 2015

Ralph Waldo Emerson sees a snow-storm as a master architect and “fierce artificer.”

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Advent and Horror at the Void

By Robin Bates | Published: November 30, 2014

Donald Hall’s “Advent” captures the darkness of the season, linking death with birth.

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What Does It Mean to Hope against Hope?

By Robin Bates | Published: October 15, 2014

What does it mean to hope against hope? Emily Dickinson and an analytic philosopher weigh in.

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Forgive Me for Eating Your Plums

By Robin Bates | Published: July 12, 2011

In my experience, no two people respond to William Carlos Williams’s “This Is Just to Say” in the same way. More than most short poems, it seems to function as a Rorschach test, with reactions telling us more about the reader than the poem itself.

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Let Me Not Love Thee If I Love Thee Not

By Robin Bates | Published: May 22, 2011

In threatening God that he will find another master, George Herbert sounds like a five-year-old threatening to run away from his mother. Deep down, he is acknowledging that he has no choice but to love God.

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