Tag Archives: John Keats

A Keats Poem for Class Reunions

By Robin Bates | Published: June 4, 2019

Wednesday This past weekend I attended my 50th high school anniversary and relived life at Sewanee Military Academy from 1965-69. Some of my former classmates talked of these having been the happiest years of their lives, which brought to mind a poem I learned at SMA while practicing for the regional poetry competition. In some […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , | Comments closed

Does Lit Crit Make Lit Less Fun?

By Robin Bates | Published: December 14, 2018

Friday My Ljubljana colleague Jason Blake alerted me to a Chronicle of Higher Education article that wrestles with the question of whether studying literature should be fun. It’s a fairly confused piece, with Baruch College’s Timothy Aubry conflating a number of issues better treated separately. Nevertheless, it’s worth a response because Aubry addresses questions that non-academics […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Nature Lit Has Healed for Centuries

By Robin Bates | Published: December 5, 2017

For years my Intro to Lit class has had a nature theme.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Fall, Season for Beautiful Depression

By Robin Bates | Published: November 15, 2017

Those suffering from depression will find a kindred spirit in this gorgeous St. Vincent Millay poem about autumn.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Will Warm Days Never Cease?

By Robin Bates | Published: October 12, 2017

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 , , , , , | Comments closed

Rachel Kranz, R. I. P.

By Robin Bates | Published: August 29, 2017

When my best friend Rachel Kranz died yesterday. I turned to Shelley’s “Adonais” for comfort.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed

The New Moon, A Prayer Opening to Faith

By Robin Bates | Published: December 17, 2016

In a powerful Advent poem, David Whyte compares waning faith with the waning moon. The poem reminds me of poems by John Keats and Lucille Clifton.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

Not Your Father’s Apple Cider

By Robin Bates | Published: July 19, 2016

A visit to my cousins’ hard apple cider processing plant showed me that making the beverage has changed markedly since the days of John Keats and Robert Frost.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

She Stood in Tears amid the Alien Corn

By Robin Bates | Published: November 7, 2015

The figure of the Biblical Ruth takes on new resonance when she makes an appearance in Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed