In which I examine my longtime relationship with sports, along with some of its literary associations.
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Tag Archives: Roger Federer
How Sports Spurred My Literary Imagination
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Ties", "To Be of Use", Brian Gottfried, Dabney Stuart, Jean Renoir, Julius Caesar, Marge Piercy, Rules of the Game, Sports, sprezzatura, tennis, Tobias Wilson-Bates, William Shakespeare Leave a comment
What Made Roger Federer Special
Recently retired Roger Federer had a quality possessed by the 17th century Cavalier poets.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Adam's Curse", "Requiem for Sonora", "Song", "To Lucasta Going to War", If, John Suckling, Mark Kingwell, Peter Bodo, Rafael Nadal, Richard Lovelace, Richard Shelton, Rudyard Kipling, sprezzatura, To Althea from Prison, W. B. Yeats Comments closed
Federer and Father Time
In which I compare Federer’s upset loss to the final stage of an up and down disease, such as that described in Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons.”
Federer, Unlike Ulysses, a Family Man Hero
Time and again with Roger Federer, thinking he is nearing his end, I have cited Tennyson’s “Ulysses.” He keeps proving me wrong. One reason may be because he has a different relationship with his family than Tennyson’s protagonist has.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aging, Alfred Lord Tennyson, tennis, Ulysses, Venus Williams Comments closed
One Equal Temper of Heroic Hearts
Federer and Nadal resumed their legendary rivalry in the Australian Open finals and played a match for the ages. They are both old in tennis terms and by all rights should have been surpassed by the next generation. Therefore Tennyson’s “Ulysses” seems the proper poem to acknowledge them.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, Australian Open, Rafael Nadal, Sports, tennis, Ulysses Comments closed
Strong in Will vs. Time & Fate
Roger Feder, like Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” braved time and fate and came up just short.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged aging athletes, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Sports, tennis, Ulysses, Wimbledon Comments closed
Maybe the Gulfs Will Wash Us Down
Peyton Manning was not Homer’s Odysseus but Tennyson’s Ulysses.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, Football, Homer, NFL, Odyssey, Peyton Manning, Sports, Ulysses Comments closed
The Agony of a Federer Fan
Federer’s early tournament losses bring about an agony not unlike that of poet Richard Shelton mourning the death of his beloved Sonora Desert.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Requiem for Sonora", age and aging, Richard Shelton, tennis Comments closed