Tag Archives: war

Brecht Quatrains for Challenging Times

By Robin Bates | Published: November 17, 2017

During World War II Bertolt Brecht wrote quatrains that speak powerfully to our own political times.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Adolph Hitler, Bertolt Brecht, Donald Trump, refugees, War Primer | Comments closed

Anger in Ancient Greek Works

By Robin Bates | Published: September 13, 2017

A new book looks at how the ancient Greeks approached the issue of anger in works such as “Iliad,” “Ajax,” and “Hecuba.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Ajax, Beowulf, Euripides, Hecuba, Homer, Iliad, Sophocles, violence | Comments closed

Great Pro-War Literature Doesn’t Exist

By Robin Bates | Published: June 22, 2017

In which I argue that great pro-war literature doesn’t exist, including “The iliad” and “War and Peace.” (Both works are magnificent; I just don’t see them as pro-war.)

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Charge of the Light Brigade", Alfred Lord Tennyson, anti-war literature, Catch 22, Donald Trump, Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Homer, Iliad, Joseph Heller, Leo Tolstoy, Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer, Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien, War and Peace | Comments closed

Memorial Day: Anthem for Doomed Youth

By Robin Bates | Published: May 29, 2017

With Memorial Day, there is the danger that we will romanticize the deaths of the fallen rather than face up to the full tragedy. This tension can be seen in a number of World War I poems, some of which romanticize the fallen while others dwell on the absurdity of their deaths.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Anthem for Doomed Youth", "For the Fallen", "I Have a Rendezvous with Death", "Soldier", Alan Seeger, death and dying, Laurence Binyon, Memorial Day, Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen, World War I | Comments closed

Calling Out Trump’s War Enablers

By Robin Bates | Published: April 20, 2017

Too many beltway insiders are singing the praises of Donald Trump’s foreign policy bellicosity, with Brian Williams unironically quoting Leonard Cohen’s “I am guided by the beauty of your weapons.” He should quote Dylan’s “Masters of War” instead.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "First We Take Manhattan", "Masters of War", Bob Dylan, Brian Williams, Donald Trump, Leonard Cohen, war mongering | Comments closed

Even in Bad Times, Life Goes On

By Robin Bates | Published: November 13, 2016

Donald Trump is a disaster but, as Thomas Hardy reminds us, life goes on even during disasters. As bad as Trump is, he’s not comparable to World War I, the subject of Hardy’s poem.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "In Time of the Breaking of Nations", Donald Trump, Thomas Hardy | Comments closed

Solace for Vets from Sophocles

By Robin Bates | Published: September 13, 2016

A group has been giving dramatic readings of Sophocles plays in order to reach veterans suffering from PTSD. The results have been astonishing.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Ajax, Philoctetes, PTSD, Sophocles, Veterans, veterans' suicides | Comments closed

Memorial Day: I Am the Grass, I Cover All

By Robin Bates | Published: May 29, 2016

Carl Sandburg’s outward stoicism masks a deep grief as he memorializes those killed in battle in “Grass.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Grass", "Song of Myself", "Where Have All the Flowers Gone", battles, Carl Sandburg, Memorial Day, Pete Seeger, Walt Whitman | Comments closed

Soldier, Rest, Thy Warfare O’er

By Robin Bates | Published: May 25, 2015

In “Soldier Rest,” Sir Walter Scott captures how inviting death can look to those caught up in battle’s throes.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Strange Meeting", death and dying, Lady of the Lake, Memorial Day, Sir Walter Scott, Wilfred Owen | Comments closed