Clarke investigates Kendall's 'private myth' in Poems and Songs in which the poet seeks a maiden who has crossed a sea and entered a strange land. In later volumes, Kendall's expansion of this myth anticipates the symbolists because of his exploration of the "conception that human existence is an absence from the Divine, and Time a deprivation of Eternity". Clarke concludes that Kendall needs to be considered in terms other than "Australian" to appreciate the full impact of his poetry, his borrowings and anticipations.

Mitchell looks to Kendall's poetry for a "system of images that amount to a loose poetic philosophy, an attitude of mind that is formulated emotionally rather than logically, but in any case consistently". Mitchell detects an observer who occupies a middle (dream-like) state beside a stream between differents poles such as real/ideal and city/forest. Although the observer seeks but can't find the source of this stream, he gains the ability to believe in poetic vision--the radiant dream. Mitchell argues that all of Kendall's poetry shows a progression towards the acceptance of this ability.