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Category Archives: Essays about literature
Something There Is That Doesn’t Love a (Big, Beautiful) Wall
The “something” in the first line of Frost’s “Mending Wall” is the physical world. To be specific, it’s a phenomenon that shares the poet’s name: frost heaving. A native San Franciscan like me, Frost would have seen frost heaving in … Continue reading
‘And Don’t Have Any Kids Yourself’: Philip Larkin, Charles Darwin, and the Biology of Choice
In graduate school I loved Larkin’s poem “This Be the Verse” – who doesn’t? – but I was determined to find it somehow ironic. I’d like to say that I had read enough of Larkin’s to know that much of … Continue reading
Rapio, Rapere, Raptus Sum: Sexual Violence, Natural Selection, and A Song of Ice and Fire (by Bethany)
I’ve spent a good chunk of my time these last few months avoiding articles about Game of Thrones on social media. Every Monday morning while Season 5 was still airing, my Facebook feed overflowed with outrage about the violence and … Continue reading
The Great Gatsby as Complicated Comedy (by Bethany)
I’ve known for a long time that The Great Gatsby is a shape-shifter. If Gatsby is its protagonist (and it’s not at all clear that he is), the novel follows the trajectory of a tragedy, in which a hero falls … Continue reading
The Parallel Lives of Jay and Grey (by Bethany)
When I used to teach The Great Gatsby, I spent the better part of a class period on the vehicles depicted in the first three chapters. My goal, of course, was to prepare the students for the climactic scene when … Continue reading
Harper Lee, Satirist, Part One (by Bethany)
I reread To Kill a Mockingbird a few years ago, after reading it several times in school. Now I’m reading it again. It’s good, of course, although I don’t think I will ever love it in the way some people … Continue reading
Thoughts on Richard Hugo’s “To Women”
Richard Hugo’s poem “To Women” was included in the Norton Anthology that we used as a poetry text in A.P. English. We weren’t assigned to read this poem, but I found it anyway when I was flipping through the book … Continue reading
Postcards From Purgatory 