Read this excerpt from "The Legend." Tonight, I read about Descartes' grand courage to doubt everything except his own miraculous existence and I feel so distinct from the wounded man lying on the concrete I am ashamed In this excerpt, the poet alludes to seventeenth-century French philosopher Descartes, who emphasized the power of an individual’s mind to create his own reality. By alluding to Descartes, the poet questions how individuals relate to themselves. their family. nature. their community.