An Introduction to English War Poetry
When we think of English poetry, we are right to think of Shakespeare, Chaucer, Donne, Milton, and all of the other patron saints of English literature. Their…
A Violent Recovery: Allen Tate and the Religious Foundations of Community
Allen Tate’s contribution to I’ll Take My Stand poses a challenge. He concludes his “Remarks on Southern Religion” by stating that the way the Southerner can “take hold of…
The Stand of Allen Tate
“No society is worth ‘saving’ as such,” wrote Allen Tate (1899–1979). “What we must save is the truth of God and man, and the right society follows.”1…
Constancy and Coleridge
Although this essay will be about Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his poem “Constancy to an Ideal Object,” I want to open with Shakespeare’s “Sonnet XXV” to convey…
Made in Italy: A Poem
There is this room. There are the paintings, Family photographs standing in their frames, Sofas, cushions – books, magazines, coasters On the table – the little Italian…
Fear, Dust, and Water: A Look Into T.S. Eliot’s Poetic Imagery
“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries Bring us…
Poems and a Poor Old Lady in December
A most welcome December, and a most welcome Advent season. We often joke on an annual basis around this time, saying “where has the year gone?” It…
Philosophy and the Beyond
"The philosophies of this world are blind to true divinity—the living God”. This introductory proposition summarizes a traditional indictment of Christianity as represented most notably by Saint…
Socrates’ Homer in the Republic: Retaining the Poetic Past and Preparing for the Philosophic Future
Homer is acknowledged by Socrates as the educator of Hellas, “the most poetic of the poets and the first of tragedians” who provides the model around which…
The Other Side of Bleakness: On Winter and the Nativity
Those of us who associate Christmas with cold weather, rain, snow, dark days with little sunlight, and windy chills, might sometimes forget to count our blessings. It…
Sense and Senselessness in Lyn Hejinian’s Postmodernism
The Unfollowing. Lyn Hejinian. Oakland, CA: Omnidawn Publishing, 2016. Sonnets have traditionally borrowed from the language of logic and law, presenting arguments in favor of and…
Essays on Writing In The Between: Poetry As The Key to Education (Essay XIV)
Essay 14: System and Vision My modest proposal for poetry —- that it be recognized as the center not the margin of public education —- is based…
Essays on Writing In The Between: Poetry As The Key to Education (Essay XIII)
Essay XIII: The School of Poetry and a Modest Proposal Finishing a poem is different from starting one. Once started in the givens of a situation or…
Essays on Writing In The Between: Poetry As The Key to Education (Essay XII)
Essay XII: The Poem as Image / Voice Bipolar expressions of poetic value dominate Lu Chi’s Classic “Art of Writing.” Scholars point to his “double harness” style…
Essays on Writing In The Between: Poetry As The Key to Education (Essay XI)
Essay X1: Revision towards the Other o Song Language is complex, not under our control. It reflects the universal impermanence. But it’s all relative. In the experience,…