Tag Archives: Walt Whitman

Mourning Lincoln, Mourning My Son

By Robin Bates | Published: April 30, 2015

Whitman’s mourning of Lincoln in “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” also captures what it feels like to lose a child.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", death and dying, death of a child, elegies, mourning | Comments closed

Mourning the Death of “Captain” Lincoln

By Robin Bates | Published: April 15, 2015

“Oh Captain! My Captain,” mourning the death of Lincoln 150 years ago today, was Whitman’s most popular poem.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Oh Captain My Captain", Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln's assassination | Comments closed

Whitman’s Poem a Lesson for War Hawks

By Robin Bates | Published: April 9, 2015

In “The Wound-Binder,” Walt Whitman refuses to glorify war and only shows its bloody aftermath–a good thing to remember on the 150th anniversary of the Civil War’s final day.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Dulce et Decorum Est", "Wound-Binder", Civil War, death and dying, war fever, Wilfred Owen | Comments closed

An Inspiring Speech Draws Upon Poetry

By Robin Bates | Published: March 10, 2015

Obama drew powerfully from James Baldwin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Langston Hughes, and Walt Whitman in his Selma speech.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Nation's Strength", "Song of Myself", Barack Obama, Beauty, Fire Next Times, James Baldwin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Selma march | Comments closed

Advent and Horror at the Void

By Robin Bates | Published: November 30, 2014

Donald Hall’s “Advent” captures the darkness of the season, linking death with birth.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Journey of the Magi", "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking", Advent, analysis, Christmas, crucifixion, Donald Hall, Resurrection, T. S. Eliot | Comments closed

Rich Reflects on Yom Kippur & Conflict

By Robin Bates | Published: October 5, 2014

Adrienne Rich’s meditates on the meaning of Yom Kippur in light of America’s divisions and her own longing for solitude.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Prelude", "Yom Kippur 1984", Adrienne Rich, Judaism, Robinson Jeffers, Yom Kippur | Comments closed

Robin Williams Made Poetry Cool

By Robin Bates | Published: August 14, 2014

Robin Williams gave us one of cinema’s greatest depictions of a literature teacher.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Oh me! Oh life!", Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Henry David Thoreau, Robin Williams, suicide, Walden | Comments closed

Whitman’s Blast of Green Grace

By Robin Bates | Published: August 11, 2014

Scott Bates’ homage to Walt Whitman tells of amorous encounters from the grass’s point of view.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Lines of a Blade of Grass", "Song of Myself", homosexuality, Leaves of Grass, love poetry, Scott Bates | Comments closed

Student Learns from Learn’d Astronomer

By Robin Bates | Published: May 16, 2014

One of my students took profound lessons from “When I Heard My Learn’d Astronomer.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer", Art, music theory, Science | Comments closed