tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356114186987252972.post4853178187296188974..comments2024-03-27T13:20:39.780-04:00Comments on The Closet Professor: An Elegy Wrote in a Country ChurchyardJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05299122685163501819noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356114186987252972.post-85859901060242380042020-08-04T14:25:13.893-04:002020-08-04T14:25:13.893-04:00Roderick, I will definitely let you know when I fi...Roderick, I will definitely let you know when I finish the book and what my assessment is. So far, I find the book fascinating. The author, Thomas Balcerski's research interest is "manhood and gender," which I have been interested in since The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln by C. A. Tripp came out. Tripp used modern day understandings of homosexuality and male behavior to claim that Lincoln was gay. However, he had very little evidence. Balcerski presents some compelling evidence of a more historical interpretation of manhood and sexuality in the early 19th century. He also states in the introduction that he is there to present the historical record and not to speculate on King's or Buchanan's sexuality.<br /><br />As for the poem, you are right that the poem was probably not age appropriate for high school students, ww all (at least I think we all did) studied Shakespeare, and let's just say, Shakespeare had a pretty dirty mind and is far from appropriate for students. There are lots of inappropriate things we learn in literature, but our teachers did not explain it to us and so it went over our heads.<br /><br />By the way, this poem was never meant for public consumption. Gray sent it to a friend and expected nothing more from it. Obviously, he did not get what he was expecting.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05299122685163501819noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356114186987252972.post-33050941520052996302020-08-04T12:39:10.479-04:002020-08-04T12:39:10.479-04:00Joe, do let us have your final verdict on the book...Joe, do let us have your final verdict on the book - if it is worth getting hold of and reading, Roderick<br />P.S. Read the poem as an assignment in high school, not a suitable age to do so : "what is he moaning about?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356114186987252972.post-82798652975707837422020-08-04T11:12:16.804-04:002020-08-04T11:12:16.804-04:00How ironic that the Alabamian who rose to hold the...How ironic that the Alabamian who rose to hold the highest political office of Vice President is barely mentioned in Alabama history because he was gay. Of course that would ruin the racist, homophobic lives of most of the people in the state to know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com