SOURCE: Lind, Michael. “Comment: Our Country and Our Culture.” Hudson Review 54, no. 4 (winter 2002): 534-41.

In the following essay, Lind explores the role of poetry, particularly American patriotic poetry, in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

In “A Poem Sacred to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton,” James Thomson (1700-1748) imagines the apotheosis of the scientist amid the worlds whose motion he has learned to understand.

All-piercing sage! Who sat not down and dreamed Romantic schemes, defended by the din Of specious words, and tyranny of names … … … … … … … … … … … What were his raptures then! How pure! How strong! And what the triumphs of old Greece and Rome, By his diminished, but the pride of boys In some small fray victorious! When instead Of shattered parcels of this earth usurped By violence unmanly, and sore deeds Of cruelty and blood, Nature herself Stood all subdued by him, and open laid Her every...