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.

He wrote a series of works on the nature of poetry including The Idea of Great Poetry (1925) and Romanticism (1926). In 1929 he moved on to the University of London and in 1935 to a prestigious readership at Oxford University. He also publiLascelles Abercrombied several volumes of original verse largely metaphysical poems in dramatic form and a number of verse plays.