Perhaps it is time to stop beating our heads against figurative walls as we debate whether gasoline taxes should be given summer holidays and, instead, pursue more philosophical debates, such as whether poet John Milton contributed more to society than did playwright William Shakespeare.

Nigel Smith, an English professor at Princeton, says he did. In "Is Milton Better Than Shakespeare?" (Harvard University Press: $22.95), Smith argues that not only is Milton important to the future of Western civilization but that "he is still of use to us in our current predicaments" and is "more thoughtfully progressive and an even better poet for these reasons than we ever realized."

So, what does poetry, even great poetry like Milton's "Paradise Lost," have to do with the fight against al-Qaeda?

Smith argues that Islamic fundamentalism parallels the bigotry and rigidity of "Milton's co-religionists, the Puritans" and the authoritarian response to al-Qaeda in the West, characterized by airport searches, wire-tapping and imprisonment without trial "are denounced as fatal compromises of the very principles of liberty on which our cherished open society is based."

So, reading Milton offers us a new way to look at our own society and its values, Smith says.

"Milton is an author for all Americans, whether conservative, liberal or radical, not only because he was a favorite of the founding fathers, so that his voice echoes through their writings, but also because his visionary writing is a literary embodiment of so many of the aspirations that have guided Americans as they have sought to establish lived ideals of ethical and spiritual perfection."

In other words, as Milton assesses the rebellion of Satan against God in "Paradise Lost," he invites his reader to think through the ethical dimensions of power and of political order.

To be honest, if you aren't familiar with "Paradise Lost," you will get lost yourself in this small book, which spends most of its pages analyzing the poem.

If you are interested in the question posed by the title, you won't find too many answers. Smith merely says that Shakespeare's insight into the human condition is reflected in the continuing performance of his plays, "Milton's interrogations of free will, liberty and the threat to it are more riveting."

Well, if he says so. . . .