The poems in this book explore humankind's relationship with nature, nature's combination of bountifulness and cruelty, and how man resembles and differs from other species. They ponder the tension between faith and doubt, the good and the evil wrought by religion, and the good and the evil in human nature. There are references to the virtues and vices of past and modern figures prominent in government, philosophy and religion and the place of these persons in the pattern of history. Several poems lament human beings' tragic propensity for war and exploitation. Some celebrate and mourn the way in which the scientific revolution has changed how we see and what we feel about the universe. The ambivalences that arise from the contemplation of these topics are more readily conveyed by poetry than by prose.