Tag Archives: Alfred Lord Tennyson

Looking Forward, Not Back

Seeking to resurrect Troy, Aeneas takes on a challenge also facing America.

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My Son’s Death and Two Tree Poems

Today, the anniversary of my son’s death and also Arbor Day, I link the two days with two tree poems.

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Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New

Tennyson and Longfellow have poems about bells ringing out an age of sin and suffering and ringing in new hope. Let them ring.

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Wanted: Teachers, Not Martyrs

Some say teachers should, like soldiers, should put their lives on the line. This A.E. Housman poem brings up the question of whether even soldiers should do so when there sacrifice will be meaningless.

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Remembering My Son 20 Years Later

Remembering my oldest son, who died 20 years ago, I turn to Shelley’s elegy for Keats.

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Mentor: Rare for Sons to Be Like Fathers

Homer explores the difficulty of a young man living up to his famous father. It’s a problem that continues with fathers and sons.

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Is Old Age Becoming Overrated?

A “New Yorker” article on aging turns to literature to debunk the notion that aging is a good thing.

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The Anxiety of Harold Bloom

The late Harold Bloom longed to be a Samuel Johnson but never got there.

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Let Us Sail into the Promise of the Day

E. A. Robinson’s “Children of the Night” finds spiritual hope in a dark world.

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