Tag Archives: Beowulf

Can We Be Beowulf Strong?

By Robin Bates | Published: August 3, 2021

“Bowulf,” a poem about rage, violence, and the end of empire.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Anger, Beowulf poet, end of empire, grieving, resentment, violence | Comments closed

On Jan. 6, 2021 Grendel Stormed Heorot

By Robin Bates | Published: July 20, 2021

“Beowulf” is a poem in which a once proud nation sees a dismal future. Should America take note?

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beowulf poet, end of empire, social malaise | Comments closed

Why I Think the Way I Think

By Robin Bates | Published: March 23, 2021

I survey my intellectual history, especially the evolution of my thinking about literature’s impact on human behavior.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Antonio Gramsci, Carl Jung, Carleton College, Hans Robert Jauss, Harper Lee, Huckleberry Finn, intellectual history, J. Paul Hunter, J. R. R. Tolkien, Jerome Beaty, Karl Marx, Literary Theory, Madame Bovary, Mark Twain, New Criticism, Norman Holland, Percy Bysshe Shelley, racism, Reader Response Theory, reception theory, Sigmund Freud, Terry Eagleton, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tobias Smollett | Comments closed

WandaVision and Grendel’s Mother

By Robin Bates | Published: March 11, 2021

In which I compare Wanda from WandaVision with Grendel’s Mother. Who knew?

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beowulf poet, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, destructive grieving, WandaVision | Comments closed

For Halloween, Read Headley’s Beowulf

By Robin Bates | Published: October 29, 2020

For Halloween, reread Headley’s new translation of Beowulf, which uses the language of millennials and generation z.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beowulf poet, Halloween, Maria Dahvana Headley | Comments closed

In a Dark Time, Beowulf Was My Virgil

By Robin Bates | Published: August 16, 2020

If Dante had his Virgil, I have Beowulf. Both poets helped up negotiate dark times.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Aeneid, Beowulf poet, Dante, Divine Comedy, grief and grieving, Virgil | Comments closed

When Grief Turns Violent

By Robin Bates | Published: June 1, 2020

In protesting police violence against communities of color, protesters must avoid grief-fueled violence, the archetype of which is Grendel’s Mother.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beowulf poet, George Floyd, Marat/Sade, Minneapolis riots, Peter Weiss, police racism | Comments closed

Students as Beowulf vs. Covid

By Robin Bates | Published: May 10, 2020

Through describing their essays on “Beowulf,” I recount how five students are responding to the Covid crisis.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged COVID-19, Depression, pandemics, resentment | Comments closed

Homer, Virgil & Dante Visit the Afterlife

By Robin Bates | Published: April 6, 2020

In my Representative Masterpieces course, I conclude with Dante’s “Inferno,” where we see sinners creating their own hells.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Aeneid, Dante, Divine Comedy, Homer, Inferno, John Bunyan, John Milton, monsters, Odyssey, Paradise Lost, Pilgrim's Progress, Sin, Virgil | Comments closed