If Epic Poetry Is A Definite Species,

Poetry Is The Work Of Poets, Not Of Peoples Or Communities; Artistic Creation Can Never Be Anything But The Production Of An Individual Mind.

The Balance Of Private Good And General Welfare Is At The Bottom Of Civilized Morals But The Morals Of The Heroic Age Are Founded On Individuality, And On Nothing Else.

There Is Only One Thing Which Can Master The Perplexed Stuff Of Epic Material Into Unity; And That Is, An Ability To See In Particular Human Experience Some Significant Symbolism Of Man's General Destiny.

The Epic Poet Has Behind Him A Tradition Of Matter And A Tradition Of Style; And That Is What Every Other Poet Has Behind Him Too; Only, For The Epic Poet, Tradition Is Rather Narrower, Rather More Strictly Compelling.

With Several Different Kinds Of Poetry To Choose From, A Man Would Decide That He Would Like Best To Be An Epic Poet, And He Would Set Out, In Conscious Determination, On An Epic Poem.