Tag Archives: Percy Shelley

Wanted: An Elegy to Mourn Covid Victims

To mourn our 800,000+ covid dead, America needs a good poetic elegy.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

Shelley on Commemorating Freedom

Shelley’s “Hellas,” written in support of Greek independence, applies well to this year’s July 4th celebrations.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Do Not Stand by My Grave and Cry

As I remember my eldest son, this Clare Harner Lyon poem brings me peace.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

Does Lightweight Lit Do Damage?

I look at how thinkers over the centuries have viewed so-called popular or lightweight literature.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

During Covid, Workers Must Unite

On this International Workers’ Day, frontline workers are bearing the brunt on Covid-19 and public sector workers may not be far behind. Time for Shelley’s “To the Working Men of England.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed

13 Books That (Kind of) Changed America

I review Parini’s “13 Books That Changed America” and find his view of change to be limiting. For one thing, he excludes most of American literature.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Let My Words Turn into Sparks

In this Marge Piercy Rosh Hashanah poem, the poet asks how she has contributed to peace.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

My “Last Lecture”

I share here my “last lecture” from my retirement ceremony. (But rest assured: I will not be retiring from this blog.)

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

When Science Clips an Angel’s Wings

Scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins disagrees with Keats and Poe in their attacks on science. I think he loses the argument.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed