On je 1978. izjavio: "Napisao sam Epitaf u vrijeme kad su svi intelektualni pokreti u svijetu odstupali od tradicije ... kao ojačanje našeg nacionalnog i rasnog identiteta kroz čisto folklorne rime."
In 1978, he said, "I wrote the Epitaph at a time when all the intellectual movements around the world were creating diversions from tradition … as a fortification of our national, racial identity through purely folklore metres."