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: death and dying
After the 2nd Death, a Book Project
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beowulf, C.S. Lewis, Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Jane Austen, Margaret Atwood, Pride and Prejudice, second death | Comments closed
Lit in the Year after Justin’s Death
In the year following Justin’s death, important works were Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Tennyson’s In Memoriam.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Adonais, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Black Cauldron, C.S. Lewis, Grief Observed, In Memoriam, Lloyd Alexander, Percy Shelley, second death, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | Comments closed
Job’s Doubts vs. Job’s Faith
Job’s assertion of faith arises when, at the same time, he is doubting God’s justice. Gibran’s poem on death provides insight into this paradox.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged “On Death", Book of Job, Job, Kahlil Gibran, Suffering, Why bad things happen to good people | Comments closed
For Halloween, Dickinson Matches Poe
Emily Dickinson matches Poe in gothic horror and is worth reading on Halloween.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Pit and the Pendulum", “’Tis so appalling it exhilarates", “’Twas like a Maelstrom with a notch", Descent into the Maelstrom, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Halloween | Comments closed
Senior Centers Should Read Tolstoy
Gawande’s “Being Mortal,” which looks at how we die, makes good use of Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.”
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged “Ambulances", Aging, Death of Ivan Ilyich, Everyman, Leo Tolstoy, Philip Larkin, Philip Roth, senior centers | Comments closed
Remembering My Son 25 Years Later
Emerson’s “Dirge” helps me remember and honor my son Justin on this 25th anniversary of his death.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Dirge", "Remembrance", "Solitary Reaper", Grief, Intimations of Immortality, Justin Bates, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Wordsworth | Comments closed
On Losing One of the Musketeers
When I was growing up as one of four boys, we thought of ourselves as Dumas’s musketeers. We have now lost one of our number.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Alexander Dumas, brotherhood, Man in the Iron Mask, Three Musketeers | Comments closed
Jesus, Fishing, and Everlasting Life
Mary Oliver makes a Eucharistic feast out of a fish she has caught, bringing to mind Jesus’s injunction to become “a fisher of people.”
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "And Death Shall Have No Dominion", "Do Not Go Gentle", "Fish", Dylan Thomas, eucharist, life after death, Mary Oliver | Comments closed
Atkinson Uses Lit to Explore Dying
Atkinson, in “A God in Ruins,” uses literary fragments to explore the process of dying. She includes excerpts from Shakespeare, Blake, Hopkins, Wordsworth and others.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Adlestrop", "God's Grandeur", "Holly and the Ivy", "Lamb", "Ministry of Angels", "On First Reading Chapman's Homer", Edmund Spenser, Edmund Thomas, Gerard Manley Hopkins, John Keats, Kate Atkinson, Love in Ruins, Midsummer Night's Dream, Spring and Fall, Tempest, William Blake, William Shakespeare | Comments closed