Tag Archives: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

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, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Wendell Berry, William Blake, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, Year of the Flood | Comments closed

Will Warm Days Never Cease?

By Robin Bates | Published: October 12, 2017

Changes in climate can cause us to see classic poems in a new light. Case in point: Keats’s “To Autumn.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "To Autumn", Autumn, climate change, death and dying, John Keats, Seasons | Comments closed

Green Knight’s Lessons for Doctors

By Robin Bates | Published: June 30, 2017

An essay I received on “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” from a pre-med student has me thinking of the poem’s useful lessons for doctors. There are several.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Doctors, Medicine | Comments closed

Sir Gawain and Celtic Spirituality

By Robin Bates | Published: October 31, 2015

“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” may represent the clash between two strains of Christianity which today we describe as Dominionism and Green Christianity. The 14th century poem definitely comes down on the green side.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Christianity, Dominionism, Environment, Green Christianity | Comments closed

Puck’s Summer Magic

By Robin Bates | Published: June 22, 2015

“Midsummer Night’s Dream” dips into ancient British legends about the mystical aspects of midsummer.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged A. S. Byatt, Children's Book, E. Nesbit, Midsummer Night's Dream, Midsummer Night's Eve, summer, summer solstice, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

How Fantasy Saves Our Souls

By Robin Bates | Published: April 13, 2015

Great fantasy can always be seen as oppositional, pushing against prevailing modes of thought and opening up portals into new human possibilities.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Age of Reason, Bacchae, Don Quixote, Enlightenment, Euripides, fantasy, Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Miguel de Cervantes, Scientific Revolution, Tracks | Comments closed

Hoping against Hope in the Face of Death

By Robin Bates | Published: February 25, 2015

Following philosopher Adrienne Martin, I meditate on what it means to “hope against hope” or to have “unimaginable hope.” The texts I use are “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” “Beowulf,” and “Wizard of Earthsea.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Afghanistan, Beowulf, death and dying, hope, Military, Ursula K Le Guin, Wizard of Earthsea | 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, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, spiritual healing, Wendell Berry, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth | Comments closed

Connecting Art to Life

By Robin Bates | Published: December 17, 2014

In a lovely introduction to a reading I gave the other night, my son Toby examined the value of the liberal arts.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | Comments closed