In method the essays represent a combination of historical and biographical interpretation, explication of specific texts, and the study of sources, genre, and style; less formally, they represent the application of knowledge and intuition based on several decades of reading, thinking, and life experience.The real test of Abrams historical explanations is of course whether or not they work whether, when we apply the criteria of correspondence and coherence (Just as in interpreting a poem), they make sense out of the particulars at hand and produce useful generalizations even in the face of competing historical interpretations. Abrams work continues to hold up. Jack Stillinger