Tag Archives: "We Are Seven"

Sterne’s Uncle Toby and My Own Toby

By Robin Bates | Published: April 11, 2026

In which I reflect on the name I gave to my youngest son, linking him back to the kindly Uncle Toby in “Tristram Shandy.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Kindness", "We Are Seven", Book of Tobit, Laurence Sterne, Tobias Wilson-Bates, Tristram Shandy, William Wordsworth | Comments closed

Reconnecting with My Dead Son

By Robin Bates | Published: October 19, 2016

Thursday I had a shock of recognition while teaching Stephen King’s IT in my American Fantasy class yesterday. The approach to life that saves the day for the protagonist is the approach that got my eldest son killed 16 years ago. Yet I don’t think King is wrong. In fact, I was comforted once I saw the […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "We Are Seven", Bicycling, death and dying, Intimations of Immortality, It, Stephen King, Tintern Abbey, William Wordsworth | Comments closed

A Child’s Connection with the Dead

By Robin Bates | Published: April 30, 2014

Wordsworth’s “We Are Seven” captured my son’s sense of connection with his dead brother.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "We Are Seven", Children, death and dying, William Wordsworth | Comments closed

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Tag Archives: "We Are Seven"

Sterne’s Uncle Toby and My Own Toby

Reconnecting with My Dead Son

A Child’s Connection with the Dead

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