Although poems and poetics are not directly mentioned in “The Scholars,” they are alluded to through the references to “lines” (Line 3) and “Rhymed” (Line 5). This serves as the underlying thread of the entire poem, using poetry as a symbol for art and literature as a whole. The speaker shows the two contrasting approaches towards art: on one side there are the academic, cognitive scholars who approach literary criticism as a mechanical craft; on the other are the poets and artists themselves who approach it not as a craft but as an art driven by feeling. While poetry is often presented as a unifying and rallying force, here it is a dividing source of contention between one state of mind and another.