Someone I love very dearly has just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I turn to “Sonny’s Blues” and “King Lear” to find adequate words.
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Tag Archives: death and dying
Grieving for a Loved One
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged cancer, King Lear, pancreatic cancer, William Shakespeare | Comments closed
Le Guin: To Refuse Death Is To Refuse Life
When Ursula K. Le Guin died yesterday, I thought of the “Farthest Shore,” the young adult novel where she grapples with humans’ fear of death.
Trump, 4 Dead Soldiers, & Col. Cathcart
Trump handled the death of the four Green Berets who died in Niger like Col. Cathcart in “Catch-22” would have. A better model would be Ned Stark in “Game of Thrones.”
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Barack Obama, Catch 22, commander in chief, Game of Thrones, George Martin, George W. Bush, Green Berets, Joseph Heller, military deaths | Comments closed
Will Warm Days Never Cease?
Changes in climate can cause us to see classic poems in a new light. Case in point: Keats’s “To Autumn.”
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "To Autumn", Autumn, climate change, John Keats, Seasons, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | Comments closed
A Blessing We Cannot Begin To Fathom
Jan Richardson reminds readers not to offer facile rationalizations to those who have lost loved ones. She also reassures that the heart a “stubborn and persistent pulse.”
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Blessing for the Brokenhearted", Jan Richardson | Comments closed
Clean Rooms, Despair of the Mind
Mary Oliver’s “University Hospital, Boston” captures my experience of having a friend in a hospital. Oliver understands the various ironies involved.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "University Hospital Boston", Mary Oliver, sickness | Comments closed
Rachel Kranz, R. I. P.
When my best friend Rachel Kranz died yesterday. I turned to Shelley’s “Adonais” for comfort.
Once There Was Light
I turned to Jane Kenyon’s “Having It Out with Melancholy” when a friend’s illness suddenly took a turn for the worse.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Having It Out with Melancholy", cancer, Illness, Jane Kenyon | Comments closed
Lit Comforts an ALS Sufferer
This past March an ALS sufferer spoke eloquently, shortly before her death, about how she turned to Sophocles, Kafka, and Shakespeare for comfort.
Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged ALS, Franz Kafka, Hamlet, Lynette Williamson, Metamorphosis, Oedipus, Sophocles, William Shakespeare | Comments closed