Tag Archives: Tempest

Shakespeare Was Mandela’s Lifeline

By Robin Bates | Published: December 27, 2012

A copy of Shakespeare’s works that circulated through apartheid-era prisons shows the Bard providing solace for the prisoners.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Antigone, Henry V, Merchant of Venice, Nelson Mandela, Shakespeare in the prisons, Sophocles, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Hell Is Empty and All the Devils Are Here

By Robin Bates | Published: October 31, 2012

“Sandy” conjures up for me a traumatic childhood reading experience along with a passage from “The Tempest.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Hurricane Sandy, Mark Twain, Nature, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Lit Featured in Olympic Ceremonies

By Robin Bates | Published: July 28, 2012

The opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics were rich in literary allusions.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Jerusalem", Children's literature, James Barrie, Olympics, Peter Pan, Richard II, Sports, William Blake, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Federer: Floating Butterfly, Stinging Bee

By Robin Bates | Published: July 9, 2012

In the immortal words of Muhammad Ali, Roger Federer floated like a butterfly, stung like a bee as he won his 7th Wimbledon title yesterday.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Alexander Pope, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Muhammad Ali, Rape of the Lock, Roger Federer, Sports, tennis, William Shakespeare, Wimbledon | Comments closed

Shakespeare with a Smart Phone

By Robin Bates | Published: April 25, 2012

The plays would have been different if Shakespeare’s characters had had access to social media.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, social media, Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

The Bard’s Business Advice

By Robin Bates | Published: March 8, 2011

Later today I’m going to be interviewed, along with my son Darien, by Boomer Alley Radio. As producer Sharon Glassman described it to me, this is “a weekly hour-long show of upbeat, useful information that airs on the CBS news affiliate in LA, across Colorado and nationally via podcast.” Finding a post I had written […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Business, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

The Bard Weighs in on the Election

By Robin Bates | Published: November 1, 2010

One curious aspect of this very loud election season has been that the two largest political rallies were staged by entertainers: Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally of August 29 and John Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” this past Saturday. A rightwing pundit and two liberal comedians (one of them who […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Julius Caesar, King Lear, politics, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Spanish Yin, Dutch Yang, and Shakespeare

By Robin Bates | Published: July 12, 2010

The commentators called it an ugly game, but I found something compelling about Spain’s victory over the Netherlands in yesterday’s World Cup final. And after all, regardless of what happened earlier in the game, how can one argue when the winning goal–and a beautifully struck ball at that–occurs just minutes before the end of overtime? […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Soccer, Sports, William Shakespeare, World Cup | Comments closed

On Elves and a Botched Love Letter

By Robin Bates | Published: July 28, 2009

Since I’ve been writing a lot about the longing for lost innocence in the past few weeks, I’ll share a couple of personal stories about the subject. Included are a traumatic creative writing experience that drove me away forever from writing serious poetry again and a very strange moment in my courtship of the woman […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged adolescence, How to Treat Elves, loss of innocence, love, Morris Bishop, William Shakespeare | Comments closed