This paper provides an analysis of the effects anti-Black violence have had on the return of Black colleagues (administrators, faculty, and staff) to higher education after the the 2020 murder of African American citizen George Floyd at the hands of now former Minneapolis police officers. Riffing off of R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles-Carter's song…

The opening lines of Shakespeare's sonnet on the destructive power of sexual desire are equally potent as a description of the emotions aroused by warfare. Poets are the best witnesses to the dark connection between violence and the erotic, the link between sexual desire and military aggression. Initially justified by perjured claims about weapons…

Irony, inclusiveness, and complexity are the chief criteria of value in the twentieth century intellectual poetry. These criteria, however, do not merely indicate qualities of craftsmanship; they reflect a sensibility, a particular way of experiencing reality. What really distinguishes Dylan Thomas is a capacity for self-analysis, a capacity for…

Argues that the teaching method instructors use to present poetry--direct/indirect, analytic/subjective, or reader focused/text focused--is influenced by the kind of relationship they wish to establish with the students. (MM)

This article profiles Christopher Benfey, 53--an art critic for Slate, a poet, and a prolific literary essayist for such venues as "The New York Times Book Review, The New Republic," and "The New York Review of Books." His latest book, "A Summer of Hummingbirds: Love, Art, and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily…

Special edition devoted to the life and works of Gustavo Adolfo Becquer. (DS)

An analysis of a poem by San Juan de la Cruz (St. John of the Cross), the sixteenth century Spanish mystic, identifies symbols and images, explains themes, and offers a synthesis of his structural patterns. The poem, "Tras de amoroso lance", deals with the theme of the search of the beloved (i.e., the soul) for the lover, and…