Tag Archives: William Wordsworth

Novels with Waterfalls and Secret Caves

By Robin Bates | Published: August 10, 2016

When I was growing up, the adventure books that I read influenced how I regarded and interacted with nature.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Tables Turned", caves, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lucy Fitch Perkins, Nature, Rob Roy, Scotch Twins, Sir Water Scott, Two Towers | Comments closed

The Mental Benefits of Forest Walking

By Robin Bates | Published: July 21, 2016

Recent brain research notes that walking amongst trees is a powerful antidote to depression. Wordsworth knew this long ago.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Lyrical Ballads, Tintern Abbey, Walking, walking in nature | Comments closed

Using Lit to Discover Purpose in Science

By Robin Bates | Published: May 22, 2016

My Intro to Literature students, few of whom are English majors, are often startled to discover that literature understands them better than they understand themselves. Today’s post describes the encounters between two science majors and, respectively, Wordsworth’s “Intimations of Immortality” and Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Tables Turned", Barbara Kingsolver, climate change, Flight Behavior, Humanities, Intimations of Immortality, Science | Comments closed

Donne’s Lovers, Spooky at a Distance

By Robin Bates | Published: December 1, 2015

Tuesday Adam Gopnik makes some nice literary allusions in a recent New Yorker essay-review of George Musser’s Spooky at a Distance, which is about the history of quantum entanglement theory. Entanglement, also known as non-locality and described by Einstein as “spooky at a distance,” claims that two particles of a single wave function can influence each other, even […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", Albert Einstein, Anthony Trollope, entanglement, fantasy, John Donne, Lyrical Ballads, non-locality, Science, science fiction | Comments closed

King Looks to Children for Hope

By Robin Bates | Published: March 2, 2015

Despite the horrors he describes, Stephen King’s vision is ultimately a hopeful one. The key, as he sees it, is plugging into childhood hopes and imagination.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Childhood, Intimations of Immortality, It, Stephen King | Comments closed

The Minstrels Played Their Christmas Tune

By Robin Bates | Published: December 25, 2014

William Wordsworth celebrates Christmas was a poem about minstrels singing Christmas carols.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Minstrels", Christmas, Christmas carols | Comments closed

The Peace of Wild Things

By Robin Bates | Published: December 21, 2014

My Intro to Literature class explored how a disconnect from nature leads to existential anguish while opening themselves up to nature provides spiritual nourishment.