The Balance Of Private Good And General

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.

For The Stage Displays The First Vigorous Expression, As The Natural Thing And Without Conspicuous Restraint, Of Private Individuality.

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.

The First Epics Were Intended For Recitation; The Literary Epic Is Meant To Be Read.