Back in the ancient world, when I was in high school, a friend and classmate of mine was named Dwight Wayne Batteau, better known (then and now) as Robin Batteau. For quite a while now he has been half of the folk music duo of singer-songwriters Buskin and Batteau. Although I refer to the time when we were in high school as the ancient world, it wasn’t really, even if it may feel like that in retrospect. But there is a genuine connection here! When Robin and I were classmates — both at Andover and at Harvard — I was quite deeply involved in the ancient world, studying Latin for seven years and ancient Greek for six, even though I eventually transitioned into linguistics (but that’s a story for another day).

For reasons that you will learn when you read “Banned in Sparta” — and when you listen to the accompanying songs on YouTube — Robin graduated a little late. Unlike the rest of his classmates. he was unable to finish his studies in 1969. (It seems that musicians tend to be college dropouts, I hear you saying.) But he finally decided to go back and get his bachelor’s degree a few years late — at age 73!

Thus, as he says, Robin finished “last in his class.” Despite having concentrated in biology, he decided to study ancient Greek for his remaining semester, especially ancient Greek poetry and songs; he was (and is) a songwriter, after all. You can find them all in YouTube by searching for Robin Batteau – Banned in Sparta. The songs on the album are in English, BTW.

(Finally, don’t confuse this endeavor with the album Roman Songs, by John Linnell of They Might Be Giants. In that case the songs are in an ancient language, and John was a student of mine, not a classmate, but that’s still clearly a deep connection. More on that in another post.)

Categories: Life, Linguistics, Teaching & Learning