Perhaps more than any other American writer, Stephen King understands such incidents as the Orlando massacre. The famous horror writer dreams America’s nightmares and appears prescient when they come true.
Tag Archives: John Milton
King’s Clown Rampaged in Orlando
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beowulf, Grendel, gun violence, It, mass murder, Omar Mateen, Orlando killings, Paradise Lost, Stephen King Comments closed
Trump and Gazing into the Abyss
Ted Cruz said that, if Donald Trump is the GOP nominee, we would be gazing into the abyss. For what this would be like, I turn to Milton, an expert on abysses.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Paradise Lost, politics, Presidential Primaries, Ted Cruz Comments closed
Ted Cruz as Lucifer, “Squat Like a Toad”
After John Boehner compared Sen. Ted Cruz to Lucifer, I went looking through “Paradise Lost” to find passages that would apply. I found a particularly good one but, if you ask me, Cruz more resembles Blifil, Tom Jones’s nemesis.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bram Stoker, Dracula, Henry Fielding, John Boehner, Julius Caesar, Lucifer, Paradise Lost, Peter King, politics, Presidential Primaries, Satan, Senate, Ted Cruz, Tom Jones, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Let Our Teachers Teach
Monday When I wrote last week about a Virginia legislator attacking teachers for assigning Toni Morrison’s Beloved, I didn’t realize that there was a mother in an adjoining county also going after the book. And unlike the Virginia legislator she gives reasons. Here’s from The Post’s article about Laura Murphy, a Fairfax County mother whose son […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beloved, censorship, High school teaching, Paradise Lost, Toni Morrison Comments closed
My New Granddaughter, Glorious Eden
I am a grandfather again. My latest granddaughter, Eden Rhys Wilson-Bates, brings to mind “Paradise Lost” and Lucille Clifton’s Garden of Eden poems.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "story thus far", grandchildren, Lucille Clifton, Paradise Lost Comments closed
A Debate about Sex, Pullman vs. Milton
This is the 20th anniversary of Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series, which gives me an excuse for once again tilting with the fantasy author and figuring out my own thoughts on our vexed relationship with sexuality and our bodies. Once again I conclude that Milton goes far deeper into these issues than Pullman does.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Boom!", Christianity, Everyman, His Dark Materials, Howard Nemerov, Philip Pullman, Sin Comments closed
Lyra’s Epic Journey To Grow Up
Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy is a frontal assault on sin-obsessed patriarchal churches. While I don’t find this depiction to be compelling, I am drawn into his coming-of-age story.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Christian church, Golden Compass, Paradise Lost, Philip Pullman, Sin Comments closed
What in Me Is Dark Illumine
An epiphany is the moment when something divine enters the human realm. During the Epiphany season, Christians celebrate such moments. In the famous opening of “Paradise Lost,” Milton notes that the Holy Spirit is his muse and connects his own inspiration with a number of famous visitations of the Holy Spirit throughout Biblical history.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged epiphanies, Epiphany, Holy Spirit, Jesus, John the Baptist, Moses, Paradise Lost Comments closed
Introducing a New Genre: Cli-Fi
Weather disappeared largely from literature when it was seen unrealted to the actions of humans. With climate change now upon us, however, a new literary genre has arisen.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged climate change, extreme weather, global warming, Lost Children, Mary Oliver, Pjlds; Comments closed
