John Gatta’s “Spirits of Place” is helping me understand why I have chosen to retire in my home town. Wordsworth, Stowe, Homer, and Frost help out as well.
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Tag Archives: Odyssey
Returning to the Misty Past
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Death of the Hired Man", "Pulley", George Herbert, Harriet Beecher Stowe, home, Homer, John Gatta, retirement, Robert Frost, Sewanee, Tintern Abbey, Uncle Tom's Cabin, William Wordsworth Comments closed
Bob Dylan, Gifted Storyteller
Bob Dylan, in his Nobel Acceptance Speech, made it clear that literary influences are as big in his song writing as musical influences.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Blowin' in the Wind", "Masters of War", All Quiet on the Western Front, Bob Dylan, Erich Maria Remarque, Herman Melville, Homer, Moby Dick, Nobel prize Comments closed
Fantasy, a Portal to the Numinous
People are often drawn to fantasy in our post-Enlightenment world because they hunger for the numinous.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Crystal Forest", alienation, angels, Beauty and the Beast, Charles Taylor, disenchantment, Enlightenment, fantasy, Georg Lukacs, Harmut Rosa, His Dark Materials, Homer, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Philip Pullman, re-enchantment, resonance, Theory of the Novel, Willam Sharp Comments closed
The Liberal Arts Will Not Die
Thursday My colleague Jeff Hammond, a national authority on Puritan poetry and a much lauded writer of reflective essays, recently gave a stirring defense of the liberal arts for our parents-alumni weekend. Jeff’s observations dovetail very nicely with Percy Shelley’s Defence of Poetry, which I happen to be teaching at the moment. Watching poetry getting […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Defence of Poetry, Henry V, Iliad, Jeffrey Hammond, Liberal Arts, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Defending Homer against Plato
Plato’s attacks on Homer have to do with the bard’s focus earthly concerns rather than higher ones. Following Plato’s prescriptions, however, will not produce very interesting poetry.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Henry Fielding, Homer, philosophy, Plato, Republic, Tom Jones Comments closed
Homer’s Warning about Revenge Killings
What will it take to bring peace between police and black communities? Homer has a vision of such a truce at the end of “The Odyssey” but it may not be realistic.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "the meeting after the savior gone 4/4/68", Alton Sterling, Beowulf, Black Lives Matter, Ceremony, Dallas police killings, Grendel's mother, Homer, Leslie Marmon Silko, Lucille Clifton, Philando Castille, race war Comments closed
Trump’s Use of the Homeric Epithet
Donald Trump is making regular use of “the Homeric epithet.” He doesn’t use it as well as Homer, however.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump, Homer, Iliad, politics Comments closed
How To Pin Down Protean Donald Trump
Trying to pin down Donald Trump is like trying to pin down Proteus. But maybe that means that reporters can use the same tactics that Menelaus does to capture the sea god.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Homer, Journalism, political journalism Comments closed
Peyton: Old Age Hath Yet His Honor
Two narratives clash on Super Bowl Sunday: the return of the king vs. the aging king that must be overthrown. Is Peyton Manning Odysseus and the Panthers the suitors? Or is he the dragon who must yield to the next generation?
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, Football, Homer, Peyton Manning, Sports, Super Bowl, Ulysses Comments closed