Tag Archives: utilitarianism

Poetry Complements the Intellectual Life

By Robin Bates | Published: July 27, 2021

In the grip of an arid intellect resulting in depression, philosopher John Stuart Mill turned to poetry.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Depression, Intimations of Immortality, John Stuart Mill, Lord Gordon Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth | Comments closed

Wordsworth and a Depressed Philosopher

By Robin Bates | Published: October 5, 2017

When utilitarian John Stuart Mill’s philosophy led him into despair, Wordsworth’s poetry saved him.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Mock on, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Depression, Englightenment, Giver, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Lois Lowry, Tintern Abbey, Ursula K. LeGuin, William Blake, William Wordsworth | Comments closed

Johnson: The Bard Instructs by Delighting

By Robin Bates | Published: November 3, 2015

Although today we are sometimes suspicious when literature seeks to instruct us, Samuel Johnson considered this to be literature’s primary aim. He held up Shakespeare as proof.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged consumer capitalism, Horace, King Lear, Preface to Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

How Is Lit Useful? Let Me Count the Ways

By Robin Bates | Published: January 30, 2014

A recent issue of “New Literary History” explores a number of ways that literature is useful.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Charles Dickens, Hard Times, Literary Theory, Lolita, reader response, Vladimir Nabokov | Comments closed

Debating Whether Lit Is Useless

By Robin Bates | Published: December 5, 2013

I take issue with a “New Yorker” blog on whether or not literature can be considered “useful.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Othello, reading, Shakespeare | Comments closed