My brother died yesterday. This Mark Twain lyric gets at some of what I’m feeling.
Tag Archives: death
Even Dead Trees Cast a Shadow
Gilpin’s poem “Life after Death” prompts us to honor those who have gone before.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged ancestors, cycle of life, Laura Gilpin, life after death Comments closed
Homer, Virgil, Dante and the Afterlife
Literary afterlives, such as we encounter in Homer, Virgil, and Dante, are as much about this world as the next.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, Afterlife, Dante, Divine Comedy, Homer, Inferno, inner doubts, midlife crisis, Odyssey, Paradiso, Samuel Johnson, Virgil Comments closed
Halloween Horrors in the Aeneid
For Halloween, check out the monsters who greet Aeneas on his way to the underworld.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, Dante, Halloween, Inferno, Underworld, Virgil Comments closed
Do Not Stand by My Grave and Weep
As Slovenes this past week visited the graves of those who have passed on, I thought of Frye’s poem “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep", Adonais, Afterlife, Amber Spyglass, Dante, Inferno, Mary Elizabeth Frye, Percy Shelley, Philip Pullman Comments closed
the passing of all shining things
e.e. cummings has a dialogue with Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” in his own poem about autumn. I include Frost and Oliver in the reflection as well.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "In Blackwater Woods", "Ode to the West Wind", "the glory is fallen out of", Autumn, e. e. cummings, Mary Oliver, Percy Shelley Comments closed
Birds on His Shoulders, Faith in His Hands
In “Standard Time: A Novena for My Father,” Martinez wrestles with his doubts about whether his father is in some sense still present.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Standard Time: Novena for My Father", All Hallows Eve, Dionisio D. Martinez Comments closed
The Green Knight on Handling Death
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is one of the most profound works I know for dealing with death.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged COVID19, grieving, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Comments closed
Mass Extinctions Followed by Life
Richard Shelton’s poem “Death” reminds us that we are part of the world that we are destroying.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged climate change, evolution, Field Museum, global warming, mass extinctions, Richard Shelton Comments closed
