Tag Archives: Lucille Clifton

Clifton Brings Black History Alive

By Robin Bates | Published: February 6, 2015

Lucille Clifton insists on the telling the historical truth, even if it makes whites uncomfortable.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "at the cemetery", "i am accused of tending to the past", "lucifer speaks in his own voice", African American history, Black History Month, slavery | Comments closed

Against Race Oppression, Turn to Love

By Robin Bates | Published: January 19, 2015

While some of Lucille Clifton’s race poems have an edge, in the end she always comes back to love.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "listen children", "meeting after the savior gone", Black militancy, Martin Luther King, race solidarity | Comments closed

Grendel in Paris

By Robin Bates | Published: January 13, 2015

As with other mass killings, “Beowulf” has lessons for the Paris massacre. Defoe and Rabelais, meanwhile, give us insight in the targeted satirical journal “Charlie Hebdo.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beowulf, Charlie Hebdo, Daniel Defoe, Gargantua, Rabelais, satire, Shortest Way with Dissenters, Terrorism | Comments closed

The Peace of Wild Things

By Robin Bates | Published: December 21, 2014

My Intro to Literature class explored how a disconnect from nature leads to existential anguish while opening themselves up to nature provides spiritual nourishment.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Ancient Mariner, "Egrets", "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", "Killing the Trees", "Peace of Wild Things", All the Pretty Horses, Bacchae, Barbara Kingsolver, Ceremony, Cormac McCarthy, Euripides, Flight Behavior, Leslie Marmon Silko, Mary Oliver, Midsummer Night's Dream, Nature, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, spiritual healing, Wendell Berry, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth | Comments closed

Sexual Misconduct in the Classics

By Robin Bates | Published: November 3, 2014

A sexual misconduct course required of all employees got me thinking of problematic situations in the books that I teach.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "The Lover: A Ballad", "Written in a Lady's Prayer Book", Aphra Behn, Bacchae, Charlotte Bronte, Euripides, Henry Fielding, Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, John Wilmot, Rape, Rover, Sense and Sensibility, sexual assault, sexual harassment, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Tom Jones | Comments closed

The Jordan River Continues to Inspire

By Robin Bates | Published: November 2, 2014

The River Jordan, an inspiring image for American slaves, has worked it was into contemporary African American poems, including those of Lucille Clifton.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "blessing the boats", "poem in praise of menstruation", Freedom, slavery | Comments closed

Rituals of Commencement

By Robin Bates | Published: May 17, 2014

Robert Creeley’s graduation poem captures both the predictability and the unpredictability of young people going forth into the world.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "blessing the boats", "For the Graduation", College, commencement, Creeley (Robert), graduation | Comments closed

For Sterling, Waves Came Crashing In

By Robin Bates | Published: May 3, 2014

Collective player anger may have led to the NBA’s harsh punishment for Clippers owner Don Sterling. Lucille Clifton has a poem about the power of collective black action.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "if something should happen", Basketball, Don Sterling, NBA, Sports | Comments closed

the dance of Jesus music holds the air

By Robin Bates | Published: April 20, 2014

These Lucille Clifton poems usher us from Lent into Easter.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "raising of lazarus", "spring song", Christianity, Easter, Good Friday, Lent, Palm Sunday | Comments closed