Atwood’s “Cicadas” depicts the sexual urges that drive the insect.
Tag Archives: sex
Margaret Atwood on the Cicada Love Song
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged cicadas, D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce, Margaret Atwood, Walt Whitman Comments closed
“Sexual Intercourse Began in 1963”
Philip Larkin describes how the Beatles changed Britain’s social mores fifty years ago.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Annus Marabilis", 1960s, Beatles, Philip Larkin Comments closed
The Horror of Sex without Love
Sex without love, the subject of several sex comedies this past summer, was also an issue explored by poets and playwrights in the British Restoration.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Against Constancy, Comedy, Country Wife, Film, Friends with Benefits, John Wilmot, Libertine, No Strings Attached, Sex without Love, Sharon Olds, William Wycherley Comments closed
Life Imitates Aristophanes in Colombia
In Aristophanes’ great anti-war comedy, the women of Greece, led by Lysistrata, stage a sex strike, which gives them the leverage they need to end the Peloponnesian War. Currently there is a sex strike underway in a remote village in Columbia.
One of Literature’s Sexiest Eating Scenes
Homer gains Fielding’s admiration by his ability to move seamlessly between epic grandeur and “the shameless dog of the belly.” Perhaps it is Homer’s dexterity that gives Fielding the idea for his own contribution to “Great Eating Scenes in Literature.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Epic, Food, Henry Fielding, Homer, Odyssey, Tom Jones Comments closed
Rhinos and RINOs, Both Endangered
Rhinos are killed for their horns, which are falsely believed to be a powerful aphrodisiac. Knocking off RINOs, or Republicans in Name Only, is proving an intoxicating political sport of its own.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Rhinoceros Poem", Endangered Species, Nature, politics, Scott Bates Comments closed
Managing Midsummer Madness (i.e., Sex)
Midsummer Night’s Dream provides good instruction for the parents of teenagers. First of all, don’t think that you can tyrannically dictate your children’s choices (say, by threatening them with execution). On the other hand, they need guidelines and guidance. There’s no telling how they’ll behave once they are set loose in the forest of their […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged adolescence, Marriage, Midsummer Night's Dream, Relationships, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Poems for Abuse Victims
Lucille Clifton Having attended a memorial ceremony for the recently departed poet Lucille Clifton this past Saturday (see yesterday’s post), today I commemorate her by putting some of her poems to good use. Catholic priest molestation has been in the news recently (less the molestation, which tragically occurs in all walks of life, than the […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "forgiving my father", "man who killed the bear", "moonchild", "shapeshifter poems", Child Abuse, Lucille Clifton Comments closed
John Donne’s Seductive Flea
Georges de La Tour, Woman Catching a Flea, c. 1638. Oil on canvas. In case you haven’t heard, the news media was buzzing last week over a CBS interview with President Obama where he nailed a fly that was bothering him. I thought I’d have fun in today’s entry and talk about the symbolic use […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged A Fly Buzzed When I Died, courtship, Emily Dickinson, John Donne, love poetry, The Flea Comments closed
