No poet will ever take the written word as a substitute for the spoken word; he knows that it is on the spoken word, and the spoken word only, that his art is founded.
Lascelles AbercrombiePoetry is the work of poets, not of peoples or communities; artistic creation can never be anything but the production of an individual mind.
Lascelles AbercrombieHow to tell students what to look for without telling them what to see is the dilemma of teaching.
Lascelles AbercrombieThere 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.
Lascelles Abercrombie