Tag Archives: William Wordsworth

Derealized or Appareled in Celestial Light?

By Robin Bates | Published: December 7, 2017

Wordsworth arrived at the underlying idea of “Intimations of Immortality” from a childhood experience that sounds like what psychology now calls depersonalization-derealization disorder.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Depersonalization-derealization disorder, Depression, Intimations of Immortality | Comments closed

Nature Lit Has Healed for Centuries

By Robin Bates | Published: December 5, 2017

For years my Intro to Lit class has had a nature theme.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Bacchae, Barbara Kingsolver, climate change, environmental issues, Euripides, Flight Behavior, John Keats, Leslie Marmon Silko, Lord Byron, Lucille Clifton, Margaret Atwood, Mary Oliver, Midsummer Night's Dream, nature poetry, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Wendell Berry, William Blake, William Shakespeare, Year of the Flood | Comments closed

Visit Puerto Rico with Wings of Healing

By Robin Bates | Published: October 8, 2017

Read through hurricane-weary eyes, Coleridge’s “Dejection: An Ode” promises soulful hope.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Dejection: An Ode", Hurricane Maria, hurricanes, Intimations of Immortality, Puerto Rico, Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Comments closed

Wordsworth and a Depressed Philosopher

By Robin Bates | Published: October 5, 2017

When utilitarian John Stuart Mill’s philosophy led him into despair, Wordsworth’s poetry saved him.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Mock on, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Depression, Englightenment, Giver, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Lois Lowry, Tintern Abbey, Ursula K. LeGuin, utilitarianism, William Blake | Comments closed

Dissolving into the Glories of the Sun

By Robin Bates | Published: September 24, 2017

Andrew Marvell’s “On a Drop of Dew” compares the soul’s visit to the earth realm to a dew drop. In the process, he references the manna in the wilderness, today’s Old Testament reading.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged ", "On a Drop of Dew", "Waterfall", Andrew Marvell, Henry Vaughan, Intimations of Immortality, manna in the wilderness, Transcendence | Comments closed

Transfiguration: I Saw a Tree inside a Tree

By Robin Bates | Published: August 6, 2017

Here’s a Christian Wiman poem for Transfiguration Poem that gets at those moments when the veil is momentarily lifted and we see into the life of things.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged " Transfiguration, "From a Window", Christian Wiman, Tintern Abbey | 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 | Comments closed

Childhood, Space of Terror & Enchantment

By Robin Bates | Published: October 3, 2016

Norman Finkelstein’s wondrous poem “Children’s Realm” (in “The Ratio of Reason to Magic”) examines child’s play spaces and says that the poet also needs play spaces within.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Children's Realm", Childhood, Norman Finkelstein, wonder | Comments closed

Welcome Class of 2020 (and Others)

By Robin Bates | Published: August 25, 2016

A letter to incoming college students, with a tip of the hat to Montaigne, Williams Wordsworth, and Lucille Clifton.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Tintern Abbey" entering students, academe, College, Liberal arts education, Lucille Clifton, Michel de Montaigne | Comments closed