Tag Archives: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The Case for Memorizing Poetry

By Robin Bates | Published: August 19, 2020

To bolster yourself against this age of anxiety, memorize robust poetry. Other poetry works as well.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Kubla Khan", "La Belle Dame sans Merci", "Second Coming", "Soldier Rest", "Building of the Ship", "My Candle Burns at Both Ends", "Props assist the House", "Say Not the Struggle Nought Availeth", Arthur Clough, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Emily Dickinson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, If, John Keats, Memorizing poetry, Rudyard Kipling, Sir Walter Scott, William Butler Yeats | Comments closed

Following a Drought, Healing Rain

By Robin Bates | Published: October 7, 2019

Tuesday For weeks now, we here in Tennessee and other parts of the American south have been gripped by what they’re calling a “flash drought.” Abnormally high temperatures and lack of any precipitation have been “cracking farm soil, drying up ponds and raising the risk of wildfires.” We’re far from the worst extreme weather event […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged drought, Rime of the Ancient Mariner | Comments closed

Imagining Little Ocean’s Future

By Robin Bates | Published: October 22, 2018

Looking for the literary significance of my latest grandchild, I turn to Walcott, Whitman, Masefield, Coleridge, and Byron. What emerges is a mystical seeker.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking", "Sea Fever", "Tales of the Islands", baby names, Derek Walcott, J. D. Salinger, John Masefield, John Milton, Laurence Sterne, Lord Byron, Lucille Clifton, Paradise Lost, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, To Esme with Love and Squalor, Tristram Shandy, Walt Whitman, William Blake | Comments closed

At Last We Have Water, Water Everywhere

By Robin Bates | Published: October 15, 2018

I celebrate the water once again running through our house with a Coleridge passage.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged plumbing problems, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, water | Comments closed

Spirituality in Nature

By Robin Bates | Published: October 13, 2018

John Gatta’s “Spirit of Place in American Literary Culture” explains why we find certain places, in nature and in civilization, to be infused with spirit.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Aeneid, Denise Levertov, eco-criticism, Gary Snyder, Geoffrey Chaucer, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, sprit of place, Virgil, Wife of Bath | 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, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Wendell Berry, William Blake, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, Year of the Flood | Comments closed

Visit Puerto Rico with Wings of Healing

By Robin Bates | Published: October 8, 2017

Read through hurricane-weary eyes, Coleridge’s “Dejection: An Ode” promises soulful hope.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Dejection: An Ode", Hurricane Maria, hurricanes, Intimations of Immortality, Puerto Rico, William Wordsworth | Comments closed

The Eclipse Brought 2 Poems to Mind

By Robin Bates | Published: August 22, 2017

While watch the solar eclipse, I conflated two poetic passages, one from “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” the other from “The Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence", Rime of the Ancient Mariner, solar eclipses | Comments closed

Caves of Ice, Prophecies of War

By Robin Bates | Published: July 17, 2017

Scientists are detecting faster-than-predicted melting of the Greenland glaciers, which would lead to catastrophic sea level rise. Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan,” with its caves of ice and prophecies of war, comes to mind.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Kubla Khan" Greenland, climate change, melting glaciers, sea level rise, Syrian War | Comments closed