Tag Archives: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The Mariner’s Advice to College Students

By Robin Bates | Published: January 2, 2014

“Rime of the Ancient Mariner” appeals to college students because it explores how to live a meaningful life.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged climate change, environmental activism, quest for meaning, Rime of the Ancient Mariner | Comments closed

Ancient Mariner as a Halloween Poem

By Robin Bates | Published: October 31, 2013

“Rime of the Ancient Mariner” has passages appropriate for Halloween.

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

Waiting for the Tide to Turn

By Robin Bates | Published: August 23, 2013

Dickinson, Coleridge and Dickens come to mind as we await the moment of my father’s death.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "After great pain a formal feeling comes", Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, death and dying, Emily Dickinson, Rime of the Ancient Mariner | Comments closed

Poems Teach Us to Be Wise

By Robin Bates | Published: May 20, 2013

Two young student athletes in my Intro to Literature took important lessons from “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and a Wendell Berry poem.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Thirty Years Later", Coming of Age, Education, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Wendell Berry | Comments closed

The Fiscal Cliff as Kubla Khan’s Chasm

By Robin Bates | Published: December 31, 2012

Our looming fiscal cliff can be imagined as Coleridge’s “deep romantic chasm” in “Kubla Khan.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Kubla Khan", fiscal cliff, politics | Comments closed

Kane: Sunny Pleasure Dome, Caves of Ice

By Robin Bates | Published: January 28, 2011

Film Friday I’m teaching Citizen Kane currently in my American Film class and am struck, once again, by the influence that Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” had on the movie. My father and I tried to make this case in an article that we wrote on Citizen Kane a number of years back (described here), and while the editors […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Kubla Khan", Citizen Kane, Film, Orson Welles | Comments closed

What Fictional Fantasy Means

By Robin Bates | Published: January 6, 2011

Having taught British Fantasy Literature for the first time last semester, I need to think back on it before it becomes a distant memory. By reflecting publicly, I can share some of the insights I gained from the course. Two major things I learned are that (1) fantasy is an oppositional genre—by which I […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Kubla Khan", "La Belle Dame sans Merci", "Lady of Shallot", Alfred Lord Tennyson, Alice in Wonderland Alice through the Looking Glass, Carl Jung, Charles Dickens, Christina Rossetti, fantasy, Geoffrey Chaucer, Goblin Market, Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen, Hard Times, Hero with a Thousand Faces, Idylls of the King, J. R. R. Tolkien, James Barrie, John Keats, Joseph Campbell, Jungle Books, Kenneth Grahame, Lewis Carol, Man and His Symbols, Midsummer Night's Dream, Rider Haggard, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Rudyard Kipling, She, teaching, The Lord of the Rings, The Wind in the Willows, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Essay Grading and the Great Wall of China

By Robin Bates | Published: December 8, 2010

At this time of year, I sometimes wonder why I signed up for this gig. Stacks of ungraded essays are strewn “far and wee” across my study, and only the knowledge that I have completed my student essays in the past assures me that I will make it through this batch. In my hour of […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged After Apple-Picking, Franz Kafka, Great Wall of China, Robert Frost, teaching, William Wordsworth, Work | Comments closed

Washing Away Michael Vick’s Sins

By Robin Bates | Published: October 3, 2010

Spiritual Sunday In a follow-up to yesterday’s post on football quarterback Michael Vick, I want to elaborate further on Coleridge’s argument for penance. Penance is not only the right thing to do. It also can make you feel very, very good. Coleridge gives us images in Rime of the Ancient Mariner that drive this point […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Football, Michael Vick, Redemption, Religion, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Sin, Sports, T. S. Eliot, Wasteland | Comments closed