Tag Archives: grieving

God’s Answer to Job–and to Me

By Robin Bates | Published: October 20, 2024

I explore the meaning of God’s answer to Job by applying it to when I lost my oldest son.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Book of Job, death and dyng, Flies, Jean Paul Sartre, Job, Suffering | Comments closed

The Novel that Moved Me the Most in 2023

By Robin Bates | Published: December 28, 2023

Through O’Farrell’s “Hamnet,” I found myself mourning my own son.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Blue Sword, death and dying, Hamlet, Hamnet, Hero and the Crown, Maggie O'Farrell, Robin McKinley, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Beowulf’s Lessons in How to Grieve

By Robin Bates | Published: December 7, 2023

Hamlet, Beowulf, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight each show us powerful ways to grieve.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Angus Fletcher, Beowulf, death and dying, Hamlet, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, William Shakespeare, Wonderworks | Comments closed

Hamlet Taught Us a New Way to Grieve

By Robin Bates | Published: November 29, 2023

In “Hamlet,” Shakespeare taught the world a powerful new way to grieve.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Angus Fletcher, Beowulf, Hamlet, W;t, William Shakespeare, Wonderworks | Comments closed

Hamlet: Shakespeare Grieving His Son?

By Robin Bates | Published: March 5, 2023

In which I explore why O’Farrell’s “Hamnet” opened up wellsprings of grief I didn’t realize were there.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Anne Hathaway, death and dying, Hamlet, Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Wanted: An Elegy to Mourn Covid Victims

By Robin Bates | Published: January 4, 2022

To mourn our 800,000+ covid dead, America needs a good poetic elegy.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Up Late", Adonais, death and dying, elegies, Nick Laird, Percy Shelley | Comments closed

Let Love Clasp Grief Lest Both Be Drown’d

By Robin Bates | Published: January 2, 2022

When death strikes, poetry is there to sustain us.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, death and dying, In Memoriam, Jeanette Winterson, Lost Children, Mary Oliver | Comments closed

Holding on When We Need to Let Go

By Robin Bates | Published: September 30, 2021

Deborah Pope’s “Getting Through” is for those who can’t get over the loss of a loved one.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Getting Through", death and dying, Deborah Pope | Comments closed

Can We Be Beowulf Strong?

By Robin Bates | Published: August 3, 2021

“Bowulf,” a poem about rage, violence, and the end of empire.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Anger, Beowulf, Beowulf poet, end of empire, resentment, violence | Comments closed