Tag Archives: Walt Whitman

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

Whoever Degrades Another Degrades Me

By Robin Bates | Published: July 22, 2013

Whitman’s “Song of Myself” calls us to imagine the experience of the Other, just as Obama asked us to imagine the perspective of young black men.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Song of Myself", American Dream, Barack Obama, racism, Trayvon Martin | Comments closed