For an upcoming talk on growing up in Sewanee TN, I have been rummaging through old scrapbooks. A D. H. Lawrence poem captures some of the emotions I’m experiencing.
Tag Archives: Nostalgia
Böll on Desperately Clinging to the Past
Heinrich Böll’s “Christmas Not Just Once a Year” captures the yearning to return to the past that animates many Trump supporters.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Christmas, Christmas Not Just Once a Year, Heinrich Böll, Trumpism Comments closed
Larkin’s Attack on Nostalgia
Larkin’s “I Remember” is an attack on Coventry for not having given him an idealized childhood.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "I Remember I Remember", Childhood, Philip Larkin, Thomas Hood Comments closed
Where Are the Snows of Yesteryear?
With our first snowfall of the year, I am taken back to the snowfalls of my childhood–and to Dylan Thomas’s “Childhood in Wales.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Child's Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas, Memory, snow Comments closed
Mixed Emotions about My Alma Mater
To understand my feelings of melancholy when I returned to my alma mater, I turned to poems by Lawrence, Housman, and Dylan Thomas.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Into My Heart an Air that Kills", "Poem in October", A. E. Housman, college reunions, Dylan Thomas, Piano Comments closed
Time Flows On, Paris Remains
I land in Paris today and will negotiate between nostalgia and the city as it presently is. Apollinaire has a wonderful Paris poem about time moving on.
College Reunions: Feeling Understood
College reunions won’t necessarily bury you in regret. They can make you feel less alone.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged college reunions, D. H. Lawrence, Letter to an Imaginary Friend, Piano, Thomas McGrath Comments closed
Dreaming of Paris
“Midnight in Paris” may be a celebration of Paris’s past, but ultimately Woody Allen’s film becomes a celebration of its present as well. We are living in a golden age right now.
