Tag Archives: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The Simple Creed: Man’s Duty to Man

By Robin Bates | Published: July 9, 2016

This poem about the Good Samaritan by Australian working class author Henry Lawson depicts the Samaritan as a figure from the outback.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Bible, Good Samaritan, Henry Lawson, Rime of the Ancient Mariner | Comments closed

Crohn’s Disease and the Mariner’s Agony

By Robin Bates | Published: May 21, 2016

A student with Crohn’s disease found a kindred soul in Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Crohn's disease, Illness, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Suffering | Comments closed

Nature and “My Babe So Beautiful”

By Robin Bates | Published: May 16, 2016

I saw my latest grandchild for the first time yesterday. Although it was beautiful spring day, Coleridge’s beautiful “Frost at Midnight” came to mind. That’s because the poet imagines “the great universal teacher” imparting a spirit of inquiry to his infant son.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Frost at Midnight", grandchildren | Comments closed

The Very Deep Is Rotting in Flint, Michigan

By Robin Bates | Published: February 1, 2016

The water crisis experienced by the residents of Flint, Michigan is described in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Now they just need a governor who, like the mariner, is genuinely penitent.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Flint Michigan, poisoned water, pollution, Rime of the Ancient Mariner | Comments closed

My Cries Cannot Pierce Thy Silent Ears

By Robin Bates | Published: October 10, 2015

George Herbert poetry is admirable in the way he wrestles with his spiritual doubts. He may owe a debt to “The Book of Job,” where we also see such wrestling.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Denial", Book of Job, despair, George Herbert, Prayer, Rime of the Ancient Mariner | Comments closed

Earth Day: Please Brake for Woolly Bears

By Robin Bates | Published: April 22, 2015

Scott Bates’ Earth Day poem calls for protecting even caterpillars. After all, sometimes they grow up to be Keats’ tiger moths with their “deep damasked wings.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "B Brakes for Butterflies", butterflies, Earth Day, Environment, John Keats, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Scott Bates, woolly bears | Comments closed

The Peace of Wild Things

By Robin Bates | Published: December 21, 2014

My Intro to Literature class explored how a disconnect from nature leads to existential anguish while opening themselves up to nature provides spiritual nourishment.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Ancient Mariner, "Egrets", "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", "Killing the Trees", "Peace of Wild Things", All the Pretty Horses, Bacchae, Barbara Kingsolver, Ceremony, Cormac McCarthy, Euripides, Flight Behavior, Leslie Marmon Silko, Lucille Clifton, Mary Oliver, Midsummer Night's Dream, Nature, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, spiritual healing, Wendell Berry, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth | Comments closed

Cain: A Positive Way Past Collective Guilt

By Robin Bates | Published: February 23, 2014

Nazi perpetrators who turned to Christianity avoided true contrition. Both the story of Cain and “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” show how to really get right with God.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged collective guilt, Fascism, guilt, Holocaust, Nazism, Rime of the Ancient Mariner | Comments closed

What Extreme Cold Teaches Us

By Robin Bates | Published: January 8, 2014

As Coleridge and Mary Oliver teach us, when we are trapped in extreme cold, we come to value life.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Cold Poem", cold, icebergs, Mary Oliver, polar ice, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Winter | Comments closed