It explores the relationship between the structure of the text and the human qualities perceived in it, and the mediating processes that take place in the reader's mind.

He applied Cognitive Poetics to rhyme, sound symbolism, poetic rhythm, metaphor, poetry and altered states of consciousness, period style, genre, archetypal patterns, translation theory, the implied critic's decision style, critical competence and literary history.

[3] In his study of poetic rhythm he argues that no rules of metre have yet been devised that have not been violated by John Milton and Percy Bysshe Shelley, who are usually regarded as exceptionally musical poets.

This required to shift the focus of investigation from what deviations are permissible in metrics to the question whether a performance can be imagined or secured in which the conflicting patterns of language and versification can be perceived at the same time.

He has developed a theory that enables him to investigate the auditory information that affects the reader's or listener's impression ("what our ears tell our mind").