T.S ELIOT AND HIS 'TRADITION AND INDIVIDUAL TALENT'

                            

                               

                                                               1888-1965

Thomas Sterne Elliot also known as  T.S Eliot was a Profound Poet and a Brilliant Critic of his Time,born on September 26,1888 into a Boston Brahmin family which has Roots in England. He completed his Education from Harvard University both [Bachelors and Masters Degree]and later on  moved to the University of Oxford{London} for further studies. 

Albeit being a profound Poet Eliot emerged as a Cultural Critic who is compared with the Greats like "Sir Philip Sidney" and "Samuel Taylor Coleridge"

There he met his Lifelong Friend Ezra Pound an American Writer and critic.He took his Last Breath in the year 1965 at london.

Eliott has written No. of Masterpeices some of them are-

TS Eliot poems-

Prufrock and Other Observation ( 1917 )

Ara Vos Pree ( 1919)

The Waste Land ( 1922)

Collected Poems ( 1909-1935, 1936)

The Hollow Men ( 1935 )

The Journey of the Magi ( 1927)

A Song of Simeon ( 1928)

Animula ( 1928)

Marine ( 1930)

Ash Wednesday ( 1930)

Four Quartets ( 1944)

The Cultivation of Christmas Tree ( 1954)

TS Eliot's Poetical Plays -

Sweeney Agonist ( 1932)

The Rock ( 1934)

Murder in the Cathedral ( 1935)

The Family Reunion ( 1939)

The Cocktail Party ( 1950)

The Confidential Clerk ( 1954)

The Elder Statesman ( 1959)

Selected Prose and Criticism Works of TS Eliot -

The Sacred Wood ( 1921)

The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism ( 1933)

After Strange Gods ( 1934)

Elizabethan Essays ( 1934)

The Idea of a Christian Society ( 1931)

Notes Towards the Definition of Culture ( 1948)

Poetry and Drama ( 1951)

The Three Voices of Poetry ( 1953)

The Literature of Politics ( 1955)

On Poetry and Poets ( 1957)

TRADITION AND INDIVIDUAL TALENT :MY ANALYSIS

It was firstly Published in his magazine "The Egoist" in 1919 and later on appeared in his work "The SacredWood" 1921 divided in 3 Parts i.e "Tradition","Theory of Impersonality" and "Conclusion" which sums up the Essay.

Eliot wrote this essay as an attack over the Romantic Poets and their Thoughts on Poetry.

According to Romantic Poets,"Poetry is Primarily the Expression of Poets Personality" and Eliot opposes that vigorously in his essay Tradition and Individual Talent by saying that Poetry is Escape from Personality.

He discusses basically Five Points in this Essay-

1-Importance of Past and Present.

2-Poetry as an Escape From Personality.

3-Theory of Impersonality and rejection of Romantic thoughts.

4-Rejection of Wordsworth's definition.

5-He concludes the essay.

"Tradition" here means "Past",the Dead Poets,their Literary masterpeices and "Individual Talent" somewhere relates with the Present era and its writers.

Eliot says that the Poet must have the Knowledge of his Past{Tradition},his Ancestors ,Forefathers the Dead Poets,in their works their should be reflection of Past in reference to the literary work.The Present should be modified by the Past.

Eliot says that if a Poet lacks the Knowledge of Past then his work would not be considered a Good work.

Eliot also says that while writing a work a Poet must detach Himself from his Personal Opinions and Thoughts. He must remain at the Background of the work 

For critics he says that a Good Critic must analyse a Work by putting his own Thoughts and Opinions aside, he further adds that he must judge a work by its text rather than the writers Name or Age he belonged to.

Eliot attacks on the Theme of Romanticism and their nullify their Thoughts on Poetry.

                         

He quotes Wordsworth's famous Definition of poetry,"Poetry is a Spontaneous overflow of Emotions recollected in Tranquality" and marks it null and void, in response he says that " Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion. Rather it is a controlled, selective, pattered expression of emotion. It demands some kind of some kind of masking and distancing of personal emotion- a kind of artist"ic detachment, a sort of decorum, some sort of veiling. This is what Eliot means by “an escape from emotion.”

He takes the mind of the artist and the poet as the catalyst agent with relation to the artistic work. He says that the mind of the poet is like the element platinum and the emotions and feelings of the poet are compared. He compares the perfection of the poetic work with relation to the impersonality of the poet. The personality of the poet should remain aloof from the creative work. as in the chemical reaction, the Sulphur and carbon dioxide unite to make Sulphurous acid and the Platinum works as the catalyst and remains unchanged. The same is the idea implied in the poetic process. The poetic work is created by the poet and he himself does not involve in the process and remains in the background of the work. it is fundamental to depict emotions and feelings in a poetic creation because these are the essence f the poetic work. but the emotions should not derive the inner desire of the poet to react accordingly. He could not feel disgusted and disconsolate while narrating an incident. He cannot incorporate his own feelings to the poetic creation.

Eliot by following Tradition doesnt meant to immitate but he wanted the Poets to maintain the Tradition by promoting Novelty in the works.