This text is part of the "Robert Graves Programme" in which his work is re-edited and re-published. In 1918, Robert Graves began his writing career in earnest. The phases of his critical writing are distinct. From his 1925 volume "Poetic Unreason and Other Studies" to his collaborative works with Laura Riding, to "The Common Asphodel" (1949) and other work, Graves concerns and discoveries are controversial. Through the anti-Romantic years and into the decades of irony, he maintained and defended the lyric tradition. As advocate, polemicist and mythographer, his writing can serve as an example for those seeking the traditional and classical writing.