Tag Archives: Midsummer Night's Dream

Desire vs. Law in Shakespeare, Euripides

By Robin Bates | Published: November 6, 2019

If a play turns comic or tragic often depends how how the clash between law and desire is negotiated.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Bacchae, Comedy, Desire, Euripides, law, Midsummer Night's Dream, tragedy, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Check Out the Bard for Halloween

By Robin Bates | Published: October 30, 2019

Shakespeare does a great Halloween. Check out Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Halloween, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Shakespeare Hated Bullies

By Robin Bates | Published: February 5, 2019

Tuesday Last week a reader accused me of anti-Semitism for defending Merchant of Venice. While I’m always willing to learn new things about myself—personally, I think I have more trace elements in my system of sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, and ableism than of anti-Semitism—the response sent me back to early recollections of the play. For […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged anti-Semitism, bullying, Merchant of Venice, Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Teaching Lit in Ljubljana

By Robin Bates | Published: November 21, 2018

I share my experiences teaching Shakespeare and post-colonial literature in Slovenia.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood, Midsummer Night's Dream, Prešeren (France), Romeo and Juliet, travel abroad, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Fishing in the Mind

By Robin Bates | Published: July 12, 2018

Thursday Can art be so vivid that it supersedes actual experience? Billy Collins makes such a claim in “Fishing on the Susquehanna in July,” where he conjures up images that may resonate with those who fish, even though Collins isn’t among them. His own experience, he freely admits, comes from museum paintings. Art precedes life, […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged artistic imagination, Billy Collins, fishing, Hamlet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Williams Shakespeare | 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 Bacchae, Barbara Kingsolver, climate change, environmental issues, Euripides, Flight Behavior, John Keats, Leslie Marmon Silko, Lord Byron, Lucille Clifton, Margaret Atwood, Mary Oliver, Midsummer Night's Dream, nature poetry, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Wendell Berry, William Blake, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, Year of the Flood | Comments closed

Shakespeare for a Midsummer Wedding

By Robin Bates | Published: June 5, 2017

A couple of years ago a former student opted for a “Midsummer Night’s Dream”-themed wedding. For many reasons, it was a perfect choice.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Marriage, Midsummer Night's Dream, ritual, sexuality, Weddings, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Climate Change, Fairies Fighting

By Robin Bates | Published: March 6, 2017

Some of the extreme climate events we are currently experiencing are described in “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” where they are the result of fairy infighting

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Bacchae, climate change, Donald Trump, Euripides, Midsummer Night's Dream, pollution, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

After Surgery, World Is No Longer a Monet

By Robin Bates | Published: February 20, 2017

My brain is still trying to adjust to my new eye following cataract surgery, which has me thinking of various passages about seeing in “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” My having an operation, I also opted for a different path than Claude Monet, at least according to this wonderful Lisa Mueller poem.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Monet Refuses the Operation", cataract surgery, eyes, Lisa Mueller, Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare | Comments closed