Pope Leo recently called for reading books, which he said is “an antidote to closed-mindedness, which manifests in rigid attitudes and reductive views of reality.”
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Tag Archives: William Wordsworth
Leo: Reading Trumps Reductive Views of Reality
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Elsa Morante, Pope Francis, Pope Leo, World Saved by Kids Comments closed
Listen Carefully, the Books Are Whispering
A Charles Simic poem celebrating the magic of libraries.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "World is too much with us", Charles Simic, Geoffrey Chaucer, libraries, Wife of Bath Comments closed
Sterne’s Uncle Toby and My Own Toby
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 Comments closed
Sad Thoughts in Early Spring
A guest post on Wordsworth’s “Lines Written in Early Spring” from Tobias Wilson-Bates to celebrate the official start of spring.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Spring", “Lines Written in Early Spring", Tobias Wilson-Bates Comments closed
Micah and Dickinson on Kindness
The prophet Micah’s famous observation about justice, kindness, and humility can lead us to other poems about kindness, including Dickinson’s “If I can stop one heart from breaking.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Kindness", “If I can stop one heart from breaking", Emily Dickinson, Micah, Tintern Abbey Comments closed
Pullman’s Debt to the Romantic Poets
In Secret Commonwealth and Rose Field, Pullman takes inspiration from the great Romantic poets in his quest to keep the imagination open.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Ode to the West Wind", "World is too much with us", “Aeolian Harp", Biographia Literaria, fantasy, Imagination, Intimations of Immortality, Percy Shelley, Philip Pullman, Rose Field, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Secret Commonwealth, Tintern Abbey, W. H. Auden, William Blake Comments closed
Travel to Innisfree—in Your Mind
Dreaming of a rural paradise as you find yourself trapped in an hot and smelly urban environment? You can travel, in your mind, to the lake isle of Innisfree with Yeats.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Lake Isle of Innisfree", “Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey", summer refuge, W. B. Yeats Comments closed
Oliver: My Work Is Loving the World
in Mary Oliver’s “Messenger,” the poet provides insight into what it means to live forever.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Each and All", "Messenger", All the Pretty Horses, Auguries of Innocence, Cormac McCarthy, Easter, Francis Hodgson Burnett, Mary Oliver, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Resurrection, Secret Garden, Tintern Abbey, William Blake Comments closed