Top 8 Aaron Sorkin Literary References

I could write a post JUST about the Biblical references in The West Wing alone (see episodes: “In Excelsis Deo,” “Take This Sabbath Day,” “Two Cathedrals,” “Isaac and Ishmael,” “Shibboleth,” etc., etc., etc.).

Or the references to Gilbert and Sullivan musicals (see: character Sam Seaborn, former recording secretary of the Princeton Gilbert and Sullivan Society, The West Wing episode: “And It’s Surely to Their Credit,” Studio 60 episode: “The Cold Open”).

The Newsroom has not disappointed, and the pilot episode featured references to Don Quixote as a rhetorical and plot device.

The West Wing is the most robust place to pull references since it ran the longest of any of his work, but Sorkin manages to sprinkle in excellent literary allusions in most of his work. Here are my eight favorite. Are there others I missed?

1. In Season 1, Episode 3 of Sports Night, Dan says, “I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky. To the flung spume and the blown spray and the… I don’t know, the thing in my eye.” This is a misquote and garbling of a poem, “Sea Fever” by British poet John Masefield. The actual poem reads, “I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky; and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by… And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.”

2. In The West Wing‘s first season, in the 16th episode, “20 Hours in L.A.,” Donna prods Josh to make a move on Joey Lucas: “Gather ye rose buds, while you may, Josh. You know what that means? It means you should take the time to gather rose buds now cause later you might not be able to.” This is a reference to the first line of the poem “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick.

3. In Season 1, Episode 4 of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Tom and Matt banter about playwright August Strindberg, a contemporary of Henrik Ibsen:
Tom: This is pure Strindberg.
Matt: August Strindberg?
Tom: This is right out of The Father. Scariest play I ever read.

4. Leo, in Episode 15 of The West Wing‘s first season, says, “Never argue with a drunk or a fool.” This quote is from Khalil Gibran, who was Lebanese poet and artist.

5. Surprisingly, the best literary reference in The American President is a play on Dr. Seuss, when the President and his Chief of Staff (played by Martin Sheen, the future President Barlett) are playing pool:
A. J.: Nice shot, Mr. President.
President Shepherd: “Nice shot, Mr. President”? You won’t even call me by my name when we’re playing pool?
A. J.: I will not do it playing pool, I will not do it in a school. I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them, Sam I Am.

6. Episode titles:

• From Sports Night:
  • Season 2: “April is the Cruelest Month” from T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland
  • Season 2: “When Something Wicked This Way Comes” is a reference to the line “something wicked this way comes” from Shakespeare’s Macbeth
• From The West Wing:
  • Season 3: “Dead Irish Writers” is a reference to a conversation where Rudyard Kipling, James Joyce, and Eugene O’Neill are all quoted. Interestingly, only Joyce is natively Irish.
  • Season 5**: “The Dogs of War” from the line in Julius Caesar, “Cry ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war!”
  • Season 5: “No Exit” references the play of the same name by Satre. In the episode, Will Bailey also references a line from the play: “Hell is other people.”