Poetry is the work of poets, not of peoples or communities artistic creation can never be anything but the production of an individual mind. – Lascelles Abercrombie

That is to say, epic poetry has been invented many times and independently but, as the needs which prompted the invention have been broadly similar, so the invention itself has been. – Lascelles Abercrombie

By the general process of epic poetry, I mean the way this form of art has constantly responded to the profound needs of the society in which it was made. – Lascelles Abercrombie