Tag Archives: Emily Bronte

Forgive 77 Times–and Don’t Stop There

By Robin Bates | Published: September 14, 2014

Emily Bronte explores Jesus’s injunction to forgive seventy seven times.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged forgiveness, Jesus. grace, judgment, unpardonable sins, Wuthering Heights | Comments closed

Eric Cantor and Famous Literary Sneers

By Robin Bates | Published: July 14, 2011

If you’ve been paying any attention to America’s budget battles, you know that Congressional Republicans are currently engaged in a dangerous game of chicken with President Obama over raising the debt ceiling. Today’s post on the subject features a parallel with Macbeth and a glance at famous literary sneers.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Ozymandias", Barack Obama, Budget battles, Congress, Debt Ceiling crisis, Eric Cantor, Henry Fielding, John Boehner, Macbeth, Percy Shelley, politics, Tom Jones, William Shakespeare, Wuthering Height | Comments closed

No Coward Soul Is Mine

By Robin Bates | Published: January 30, 2011

Here is a resolute poem of faith in the face of death by Emily Bronte, who I wrote on this past week. When she died three years after composing it, she did so with a fortitude that showed that she wasn’t just spinning words. Perhaps it can fortify others going through tragedy and loss. […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "No Coward Soul Is Mine", death and dying | Comments closed

A True Poem about the End of Grieving

By Robin Bates | Published: January 24, 2011

In addition to my regular classes, I am also teaching a course on novels by Charlotte, Anne, and Emily Bronte at a local retirement center. The class has 15 students, all of them women, and I began it with several poems by Emily Bronte, the best poet of the sisters. A lyric about grieving hit […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Remembrance", death and dying | Comments closed

Elena Kagan, Lover of Pride and Prejudice

By Robin Bates | Published: May 11, 2010

Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennett Elena Kagan, current nominee for the U. S. Supreme Court, is a “literature lover” who used to reread Pride and Prejudice every year. So we are informed by a fascinating New York Times profile. Does this tell us anything about what kind of justice she will be? I wrote last year […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Elena Kagan, Jane Austen, politics, Pride and Prejudice, Supreme Court | Comments closed

Uncomfortable Books that Help Us Grow

By Robin Bates | Published: April 22, 2010

Streep and Kline in Sophie’s Choice A recent survey of the Tea Party movement has revealed that the movement is overwhelmingly white, educated, middle class and conservative, and people are now studying what it all means. I love this post Ta-Tehisi Coates, a senior editor for The Atlantic. As occurs in the world of the […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Aruhdhati Roy, Diversity, God of Small Things, Human Stain, Native Son, Philip Roth, politics, racism, Richard Wright, Sophie's Choice, Tea Party, William Styron, Wuthering Heights | Comments closed

Fantasy: Help or Hindrance?

By Robin Bates | Published: September 8, 2009

My friend Alan Paskow, who is struggling with cancer, queried me about my post on Alfred Noyes’ “The Highwayman,” wondering whether the poem wasn’t just an insubstantial fantasy. I’ve been writing about The Lord of the Rings as a fantasy perhaps indulged in by a World War I veteran who wasn’t willing to face up […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged adolescence, Catcher in the Rye, Charlotte Bronte, fantasy, J. D. Salinger, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings | Comments closed