“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.”
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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.
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.
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.
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.