Author Archives: Robin Bates

Spring, the Sweet Spring!

A joyous Thomas Nashe poem to welcome in the new season.

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A Bookstore and the Library of Babel

Attending a good bookstore makes me realize how relatively little I have read. Borges’s “Library of Babel” makes one feel similarly small.

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Glorifying Wild and Precious Lives

By glorifying God, we glorify God’s creation, and vice versa. Mary Oliver captures how this works in “Summer Day.”

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Here’s to Old Ireland!

A Jean Blewett poem for St. Patrick’s Day.

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Jane Austen’s Thematic Use of Cards

In which I share a talk I will be giving on the thematic significance of card playing in Jane Austen’s novels.

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Could “Dover Beach” Deter a Rape?

In McEwan’s “Saturday,” the poem “Dover Beach” prevents a rape and possibly a murder.

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Trump as a Sadistic Steinbeck Bully

As bully, Trump resembles Curley in “Of Mice and Men.” Recently Biden, like Lennie, struck back.

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The Green Power of Imagining

In “Secret Garden,” healing begins with imagining a hopeful future. It’s a lesson for dealing with our environmental challenges.

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Be Empty and Cry As a Reed Instrument

This Rumi poem explains the mystical power of Ramadan fasting, which begins tomorrow or Tuesday.

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