Robin Williams gave us one of cinema’s greatest depictions of a literature teacher.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Tag Archives: Walt Whitman
Robin Williams Made Poetry Cool
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
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
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
V-E Day, Whitman, and My 15 Minutes
My 15 minutes: during Slovenia’s 1995 V-E Day celebration I read Walt Whitman to a national television audience.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Oh Captain My Captain", Henry V, Slovenia, VE Day, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Roger Ebert’s Kinship with Whitman
In reflecting on death and dying, Roger Ebert turned to literature rather than to film.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Brendan Behan, death, Georges Remi, Henry James, Herzog, Kurt Vonnegut, Leaves of Grass, Roger Ebert, Saul Bellow, Slaughterhouse Five, Tintin Comments closed
Oh, Captain! Is Jeter’s Fearful Trip Done?
Seeing “the Captain” Derek Jeter break his ankle conjures up Whitman’s “captain” poem.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Oh Captain My Captain", Baltimore Ravens, Baseball, Derek Jeter, New York Yankees, Ray Lewis, Sports Comments closed
Depressed about Politics? Read Whitman
Marilynne Robinson turns to Whitman to argue that American Democracy’s greatness lies in how it honors the individual soul.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged America, Democracy, Leaves of Grass, Marilynne Robinson, politics, reading, When I Was a Child I Read Books Comments closed
Teaching Integrity in High School English
Describing a high school English class that he teaches, Carl Rosin draws on the American Transcendentalists as he insists that his students live lives of integrity. His final assignment requires them to put what they have thought and read into action.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer", High School, teaching, This Boy's Life, Tobias Wolff, Transendalism Comments closed