Tag Archives: Christchurch massacre

“Invictus,” a Flawed Poem Easily Abused

By Robin Bates | Published: September 11, 2019

Thursday In two recent guest posts (here and here), Radnor High School English teacher Carl Rosin describes his students wrestling with two well-known poems that were cited by the Christchurch mass murderer in his justification. One issue is how much leeway a reader has in interpreting a poem. In his students’ responses, Carl mentions some […]

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Killer Claimed to Be Captain of His Soul

By Robin Bates | Published: September 3, 2019

Wednesday Last week Radnor High School English teacher Carl Rosin reported on his students grappling with the use of Dylan Thomas by the Christchurch killer. The man also cited William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus, the subject of today’s essay. In addition to his use of another famous poem, what does it mean that this same poem […]

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When Evil Quotes Dylan Thomas

By Robin Bates | Published: August 26, 2019

Tuesday High school English teacher extraordinaire Carl Rosin has several times contributed essays to Better Living through Beowulf, usually writing about his students grappling with ethical issues through a literary lens. (Carl recently served on the National Humanities Center Teacher Advisory Council.) In today’s post we learn about his class exploring what it means for […]

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