Tradition and Individual Talent

Bridge Course : Tradition and Individual Talent 

 Hello Readers! This blog is a response to the Bridge course assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Department of English, MKBU. In this blog I am going to discuss T. S. Eliot's Essay on "Tradition and Individual Talent".

Introduction of Writer:-

T. S. Eliot :-

Thomas Stearns Eliot was a Poet, Essayist, playwright, publisher, literary Critic and editor. He is considered as a major poet of the 20th century. He is  a Central figure in English language Modernist Poetry. He was born in st. Louis, Missouri, to a prominent Boston Brahmin family, he moved to England in 1914 at the age of 25 and went on to settle, work, and marry there. He became a British citizen in 1927 at the age of 39. He was awarded the 1948 Nobel Prize in literature. His Notable works are as below.

• The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
• The Waste Land
• The Hollow Men
• Ash Wednesday
• The Murder in the Cathedral
• The Cocktail Party
• After Strange Gods
• Tradition and the Individual Talent
• The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism
• Three Voice of Poetry
• The Literature of Politics

Tradition and the Individual Talent:-

"The Tradition and Individual Talent" is an essay written by T. S. Eliot. The essay was first published in The Egoist in 1919 and later in Eliot's first book of Criticism, "The Sacred Wood" in 1920. While Eliot is most often known for his poetry, he also contributed to the field of literary criticism. In this dual role, he acted as a cultural critic, comparable to Sir Philip Sidney and S. T. Coleridge. This essay is the most famous work that Eliot produced in his critical capacity. In this essay he discusses about relationship between the poet and literary traditions. This essay is divided into three parts:

• Concept of Tradition
• The Theory of Impersonal Poetry 
• Conclusion

Q.1 How would you like to explain Eliot's concept of Tradition? Do you agree with it ?

Meaning of Tradition:-

"Tradition means that a belief, principle or way of acting that people in a particular society or group have continued to follow a long time, or all of these beliefs."

         - Cambridge Dictionary

Concept of Tradition:-

T. S. Eliot's concept of Tradition refers to the idea that all art and literature is built upon the works of the past, and that the artist must be aware of and engage with this tradition in order to create meaningful and relevant work. According to Eliot, the artist must be aware of the cultural and literary history that has come before them, and must engage with it in order to create something new and meaningful. Eliot believed that tradition is not just a collection of past works, but also a living and evolving that is constantly being shaped and reshaped by new artists and their work. According to Eliot no words can be charged in isolation if you want a correct judgement about any work then it must be compared with the past work it doesn't mean that the writer should have a bookish knowledge about the history and predecessor writer or they should spoon-feed the history but they should know style and structure of the work from the homer to till the day.

I personally agree with Eliot's concept of tradition. I believe that all art and literature is built upon the works of the past, and that the artist must be aware of and engage with this tradition in order to create meaningful and relevant work. It is important for the artist to understand the cultural and literary history that has come before them in order to create something new and meaningful that contributes to the ongoing evolution of culture.

Q.2 Explain: "The Historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence ".

"The Historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence ".

The "historical sense" refers to the ability to understand and perceive the past not just as something that happened in the distant past, but as something that continues to have an importance and presence in the present. It's the ability to understand how the past shapes the present and to see connection between the two.

Q.3Explain:"The Historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional". 

"The Historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional". 

The Sense of the timeless and the temporal, means that the writer understands that the past and present are interconnected, and that the past continues to have a presence in the present. A writer with this understanding can be considered "traditional" because they are able to connect their writing to the past and the present, and see how they are intertwined.

Q.4 What is the relationship between "tradition" and "the individual talent" according to the poet T. S. Eliot? Explain.

T. S. Eliot believed that tradition and Individual Talent are interconnected and mutually dependent. He argued that an individual's creative work is not entirely original, but rather a continuation and reinterpretations of the literary tradition that came before it. Eliot said that tradition provides a context and a framework for the individual talent to work within, and in turn, the individual talent adds to and enriches the tradition.

Q.5 Explain: "Some can absord knowledge, the tardy must be sweet for it Shakespeare acquired more essential history from plutarch than most men could from the whole British museum". 

"Some can absorb knowledge, the tardy must  be sweet for it Shakespeare acquired more essential history from plutarch than most men could from the whole British museum". 

This line is expressing the idea that some people are able to acquire knowledge easily and effortlessly, while others have to work hard to gain the same knowledge. It is saying that Shakespeare, a famous playwright, was able to acquire a significant amount of historical knowledge from Plutarch's writing, which was a collection of biographies and moral essays of famous Greeks and Romans, rather than from the British Museum, which is a large Museum in London that contains a vast collection of artefacts and works of art from around the world.

Harold Bloom criticises and says that 'this is some kind of anxiety of influence that the current author is feeling the presence of His/her creative processes/ ancestors looming large upon him/her'. Harold Bloom in his book 'Anxiety of Influence: A theory of poetry' says that there is some psychological struggle in the new aspiring authors to overcome the anxiety caused by the influence of their literary antecedents. He says it criticising Eliot because this essay is stating that the poet should use knowledge of the writers of the past to influence their work.

The line implies that Shakespeare had a great ability to learn and that his knowledge was more important and valuable than the knowledge of most people, who might have had to study a wide variety of sources in order to acquire the same level of knowledge. It also suggests that great talent and individual skill is more important than external resources.

Q.6 Explain: "Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet but upon the Poetry."

"Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet but upon the Poetry."

This line suggests that when evaluating poetry, the focus should be on the poem itself, rather than the poet as a person. Honest criticism means evaluating the poem objectively, considering its strengths and weaknesses. Sensitive appreciation means understanding the Poem's meaning and intent, and appreciating it for its artistic value. 

According to T. S. Eliot, honest criticism and sensitive appreciation should be directed towards the poetry itself, rather than the poet. This means that the focus should be on evaluating the literary merit and artistic value of the work, rather than the personal characteristics or motivations of the person who wrote it. Eliot believed that the purpose of Criticism is to understand the work and its place in the literary tradition, rather than to praise or condemn the poet. He believed that the poem should be evaluated on its own terms, without considering the background or personal life of the poet.

It means honest criticism and sensitive appreciation should be directed towards the poetry itself, rather than the poet, with the focus on evaluating the literary merit and artistic value of the work, and being open to different interpretations.

Q.7 How would you like to explain Eliot's theory of depersonalization? You can explain with the help of a chemical reaction in the presence of a catalyst agent, platinum.

T. S. Eliot's theory of depersonalization refers to the idea that the artist or poet must distance themselves from their own personal emotions and experiences in order to create truly great art.

Theory of Impersonal Poetry Eliot is comparing the poet and the process of making a poem with a scientific chemical reaction of formation of sulphurous acid in the laboratory. He says that the mind of the poet should be like the catalyst. In the preparation of sulphurous essay water acidic reaction takes place between water and sulphur dioxide in the presence of a catalyst platinum. Once the reaction is done and sulphurous acid is prepared we find that there is no trace of platinum in sulphurous acid that means that it has taken part in reaction but it has no effect on the production similarly according to the mind of the poet, it should work like a catalyst. The way catalyst agent platinum is not found in H2SO4, similarly, the poet should not be present in the poetry. It should work in the production of the poem but it should not have effect on the poem, which means the personal emotions and personal feelings of the poet should not be present in the poem and this theory is known as  depersonalization.

Explain:"Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality." 

"Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality." 

In his view, poetry is a way to access a deeper level of reality that is beyond the everyday world of emotions and personality.

It means the personal emotions or experiences and the poet's life should not be reflected in the poetry. But we can find the same thing in Eliot's work, where he presents not directly his own experiences and relationships. So it is very much difficult for a poet to be aloof from his work. Though the theory of depersonalization gives universality means where personal experiences and emotions should be neglected.

According to T. S. Eliot, poetry is not a way to express our emotions or personality, but rather a means of escaping from them, and to achieve a higher level of understanding and insight.

Q.8 Write two points on which one can write critique on T. S. Eliot as a critic.

After reading or observing this essay 'Tradition and Individual Talent' we can say that there are some points which one can consider while thinking about T. S. Eliot. As a critic, he sometimes confuses us about what he actually wants to say. Like,

• In what ways does T. S. Eliot's critical theory reflects his modernist perspective and how does it shape his evaluation of literary works?
• How does T. S. Eliot's emphasis on objective correlation and his Concept of the "dissociation of sensibility" influence his criticism of poetry and its impact on the reader's understanding of the work?

Conclusion:-

Thus, we can say that the true purpose of literature is not to express the emotions or personality of the author or poet, but rather to contribute to the collective body of literary tradition. And the purpose of literature is not to express the emotions or personality of the author or Poet but to contribute to the literary tradition and create something that is greater than themselves.

Thank you for reading....

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