If epic poetry is a definite species, the sagas do not fall within it. – Lascelles Abercrombie
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
But the development of human society does not go straight forward and the epic process will therefore be a recurring process, the series a recurring series – though not in exact repetition. – Lascelles Abercrombie
Traditional matter must be glorified, since it would be easier to listen to the re-creation of familiar stories than to quite new and unexpected things the listeners, we must remember, needed poetry chiefly as the re-creation of tired hours. – Lascelles Abercrombie