The opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics were rich in literary allusions.
Tag Archives: William Blake
To Esmé and Alban with Love (No Squalor)
With names from Salinger and Blake, my two new grandchildren have promising destinies.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Children, Four Zoas, J. D. Salinger, King Lear, Laurence Sterne, names, To Esme with Love and Squalor, Tristram Shandy, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Campaign 2012: Assorted Lit Allusions
Literary allusions are flying fast and free in this primary season.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alice in Wonderland, Herman Melville, John Bunyan, Lewis Carroll, Moby Dick, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Pilgrim's Progress, Presidential campaign, Scarlet Letter Comments closed
Read Blake, Stand Up to Your Boss
Businessman David Whyte turns to poetry to hold on to his soul in the corporate world.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Garden of Love", "I Am Too Alone in the World", Business, David Whyte, Rainer Maria Rilke, Songs of Heaven and Hell, Soul Comments closed
Jerusalem in a Green and Pleasant Land
William Blake’s “Jerusalem” has been used for both religious and patriotic purposes. One must negotiate the relationship between religion and politics very closely since God can get bent to serve narrow agendas, and this poem is frequently misinterpreted.
Spain’s Tiger Burning Less Bright
Did the god that made the elegant strokes of Roger Federer also make the bruising style of Nadal? Like William Blake gazing at the lamb and the tiger in “Tyger, Tyger,” we can only shake our heads bemused.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Tyger, Homer, Novak Djokovic, Odyssey, Rafael Nadal, Sports, tennis, Wimbledon Comments closed
Revolution in Tunisia–A Good Thing?
While I want to be optimistic about the recent Tunisian overthrow of its dictatorial ruling family, I also appreciate Anne Appelbaum’s pessimistic assessment in a Washington Post column. Her caution brings to mind one of my father’s witty animal fables entitled “The Revolutionary Mice.” You can read it below. Appelbaum succinctly expresses her concern thus: […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "The Revolutionary Mice", politics, Revolution, Scott Bates, Tunisia Comments closed
The Church and the Chimney-Sweep’s Cry
In his August 29 Washington Mall speech, rightwing television commentator Glenn Beck attacked (among other things) the notion that Christianity should be concerned with issues of social justice. He accused Barack Obama and liberation theology of distorting Jesus’s message. For the President, Beck said, it’s all about victims and victimhood; oppressors and the oppressed; reparations, […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Chimney Sweep", Children, Christianity, oppression, Religion Comments closed
Seeking a Spiritual Connection with Nature
from Songs of Innocence and Experience My Introduction to Literature class (focus on Nature) has just moved from Robinson Crusoe to William Blake, and we are seeing in the 18th century a conflict similar to one we are witnessing today over the environment. Defoe’s protagonist is an advocate of the “drill, baby, drill” approach to nature although, […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Mock on, "The Garden of Love", Auguries of Innocence, Capitalism, Fundamentalism, Nature, Religion, Rousseau, Voltaire Comments closed
