Tag Archives: Election 2024

To Stay Sane in 2025, Read Rasselas

By Robin Bates | Published: January 2, 2025

Johnson’s Rasselas is must reading for those worrying about the next four years.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Rasselas, Samuel Johnson | Comments closed

By Robin Bates | Published: January 1, 2025

On Election Night 2024, I turned to a subplot in Shakespeare’s “Tempest” to understand what was going on.

By Robin Bates | Published: December 4, 2024

Marge Piercy’s “To Be of Use” should be a reminder to incoming politicians that the real work of governing is not a television reality show.

By Robin Bates | Published: December 3, 2024

The insights of “Beowulf” into grieving can provide Democrats guidance for dealing with Harris’s loss.

By Robin Bates | Published: November 26, 2024

Kipling’s “Recessional,” written as a warning to the British empire, applies as well to America today.

By Robin Bates | Published: November 17, 2024

Returning home after 7 weeks abroad feels like Frodo returning home to a devastated Shire.

By Robin Bates | Published: November 12, 2024

While “Midnight’s Children” may apply only too closely to Trump-led America, there’s some room for hope in it as well.

By Robin Bates | Published: November 12, 2024

A recent poem about hope–which many of us need at the moment.

By Robin Bates | Published: November 7, 2024

Auden’s mourning poem “Stop All the Clocks” captures the mood of those who saw a fascist triumph in the American presidential election.