 The most thorough exposition of David Jones's views on aesthetics and culture is his essay, "Art and Sacrament" (included in "Epoch and Artist"), which explores the meaning of signs and symbols in everyday life, relates them to Roman Catholic teachings such as the dogma of transubstantiation, and argues that human beings are the only animals which create "gratuitous" works, thus making them creators analogous to God.The best summary of these views is his short essay "Use and Sign" (in "The Dying Gaul").David Jones was a complex artist and his achievements are unusual, if not unique, in that he created admired and generally recognised important works both in the field of poetry and in the visual arts.