> If England has Shakespeare, Spain has Cervantes, Italy has Dante, and Russia has Pushkin, then who do we have? Do we have a great poet who captures the American spirit, the American story, the American identity? Plough Quarterly asked for contributions from Joseph M. Keegin, Dana Gioia, Zena Hitz, Emily Wilson, A. E. Stallings, Zito Madu, Jane Clark Scharl, A. M. Juster, Ross Barkan, and Christian Wiman.

Our age has abandoned metered verse for prose. This affects the epic context greatly.

Of gods, Man, and beasts; of savage wrought and ascendant reach; tell us your tales of goddess of glories; speak your prose of divine aspects’ stories.

Let us hope in the age of slop there is still best works of Man yet to come.