Tag Archives: Emily Bronte

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. […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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