Even if they lose the national championship game, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame have Ireland’s poetic legacy to fall back on.
Tag Archives: Ulysses
If They Lose, Irish Can Turn to Poetry
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Easter 1916", "Irish Airman Foresees His Death", Alabama Crimson Tide, Dubliners, Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, Football, James Joyce, Jonathan Swift, Modest Proposal, Sports, William Butler Yeats Comments closed
Fed, Peyton: Made Weak by Time & Fate?
Peyton Manning and Roger Federer, in the twilight of their careers, bring to mind Tennyson’s Ulysses.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, old age, Peyton Manning, Roger Federer, Sports Comments closed
Ulysses: Do Not Go Gently into Retirement
A discussion of Tennyson’s poem “Ulysses” led a group of senior citizens to conclude that it’s about a man who is experiencing difficulties transitioning into retirement.
Once We Memorized Poetry
Memorizing poetry used to be standard classroom practice and poetry was widely popular before the snobs came in.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", "Ozymandias", "Trees", Alfred Lord Tennyson, Cleanth Brooks, Gunga Din, Joyce Kilmer, Memorizing poetry, Percy Shelley, Robert Penn Warren, Rudyard Kipling, William Wordsworth Comments closed
Rogers No Longer in Odysseus’ Shadow
Sports Saturday Something memorable occurred last Sunday in Dallas in addition to the Green Bay Packers bringing “Vince Lombardi home” in their Super Bowl victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Quarterback Aaron Rogers stepped out of the shadow of a legend. The literary equivalent that comes to mind is Homer’s Telemachus, but Rogers is Telemachus with […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aaron Rogers, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Brett Favre, Football Green Bay Packers, Homer, Odyssey, Sports Comments closed
Peyton Manning as Moby Dick?!
Sports Saturday In anticipation of football’s “Wild Card Weekend,” which begins today, I see that a sports writer has invoked Herman Melville’s masterpiece. Dan Graziano believes that Indianapolis Colt quarterback Peyton Manning has become Rex Ryan’s Moby Dick. He has beaten the New York Jets coach so many times that Ryan has become obsessed with […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Fuzzy-Wuzzy", Alfred Lord Tennyson, East of Eden, Football, Herman Melville, John Steinbeck, Jungle Books, Moby Dick, Rudyard Kipling, Sports Comments closed
A Poem for Heroes and Mass Murderers
Since the World Cup is underway in South Africa, I watched Clint Eastwood’s Invictus last week, about the 1995 World Cup Rugby Tournament held in South Africa. Based on a true story, the film notes that, while in prison, Nelson Mandela, like many black South Africans, would root against the South African rugby team, beloved […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Invictus", Alfred Lord Tennyson, Apartheid, Clint Eastwood, Faisal Shahzad, John Milton, Nelson Mandela, Paradise Lost, politics, Sports, Timothy McVeigh, William Ernest Henley Comments closed
Father-Son Conflict: The Comic Version
In yesterday’s post I began giving an account of a car conversation I had with my two sons regarding stories that explore father-son relationships, as well as my desire for a story in which fathers and sons collaborate to handle the world’s challenges. Darien, my older son, felt that the archetypal conflict as it […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, fathers and sons, Henry Fielding, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Tom Jones Comments closed
