The poetry of the mid- and late-eighteenth century has long been regarded as essentially private and apolitical. Dustin Griffin argues in this study that the poets of the period were actually addressing the great issues of national life--rebellion at home, imperial wars abroad, an expanding commercial empire, and an emerging new British national identity. He also reveals that poets such as Thomas Gray, Christopher Smart, Oliver Goldsmith, and William Cowper were engaged in the century-long debate about the nature of true patriotism.