Tag Archives: William Shakespeare

At 12 I Fell in Love with Taming of the Shrew

By Robin Bates | Published: October 8, 2026

In which I explore why I love Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew when I was 12.

By Robin Bates | Published: October 5, 2026

Rightwing groups have started attacking empathy itself, which literature fosters. Ayn Rand would approve but not Shakespeare.

By Robin Bates | Published: September 13, 2026

This Piercy Rosh Hashanah poem builds a poem about forgiveness and renewal from the image of a dark moon.

By Robin Bates | Published: August 11, 2026

Trump’s love affair with gold gilding alerts us as to how he would do were he given test Portia’s suitors must take in Merchant of Venice.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 1, 2026

In which I compare England transcendent goal scorer Harry Kane to Shakespeare’s Henry V.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Harry Kane, Henry V, Soccer | Comments closed

By Robin Bates | Published: June 16, 2026

With Pete Hegseth’s over-the-top exhibition of macho, I look at the history of literary cuckold jokes, which reveal the anxieties of insecure men.

By Robin Bates | Published: June 12, 2026

In which I examine my longtime relationship with sports, along with some of its literary associations.

By Robin Bates | Published: June 8, 2026

We can see our current electoral politics, and the threats to social order, in Shakespeare’s “Tempest.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged DJT, electoral politics, Tempest | Comments closed

By Robin Bates | Published: May 26, 2026

Trump is a Richard III figure. A Robert Hayden poem tells us how to counter him.