After a year of intense grieving, I immersed myself in a book I was writing: “Better Living through Beowulf.”
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Tag Archives: Beowulf
The Courage of a Tennessee Librarian
As a Tennessee library direct stands tall against a reactionary library board, I use Beowulf to reflect on the courage involved.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged banning books, libraries, Luanne James, Rutherford County Library Alliance Comments closed
Beyond Close Reading: A Discussion
According to Johanna Winant, close reading is having a moment. I discuss what close reading a literary text means to me.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged close reading, Johanna Winant, John Stuart Mill, New Criticism Comments closed
After Sydney, Dragon Depression
After mass shooting at Brown University and in Sidney, Australia, we turn once again to Beowulf, especially its depiction of dragon depression.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Brown University shooting, Depression, gun violence, mass shootings, Sidney massacre Comments closed
Finn, the Woke King in Beowulf
Frisian king Finn in “Beowulf” is an example of a woke monarch and Beowulf himself works as a positive model. But the poem also points out the potent forces arrayed against them.
Beowulf’s Advice for Battling Depression
Beowulf’s advice for battling dragon depression: don’t go it alone, which itself is a dragon trait.
A Woman 600 Years Ahead of Her Time
If Chaucer’s created a timeless and transcendent character in the Wife of Bath, it is because he listened–really listened–to women.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Christian misogyny, Defence of Poetry, Feminism, Geoffrey Chaucer, Harold Bloom, Percy Shelley, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Wife of Bath, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Trump and Satan, Both Miserable
Trump is as miserable as Milton’s Satan (and also a character in a Trollope novel). Unfortunately, like Satan, he does all he can to pull others into his well of misery.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Anthony Trollope, Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Donald Trump, John Milton, Paradise Lost, resentment, ressentiment, Small House at Allingham Comments closed