Subject : English

Class : M.A.
Year/Semester : 2020/II
Name of the Paper : Literary Criticism.

Topic : T. S. Eliot’s Tradition and

Individual Talent
Sub-topic : Relation between Tradition and
Individual Talent.
Key Words : Tradition, Individual Talents.
Name of the Teacher : Dr. Navratan Singh
Department : English
Faculty : Humanities Mahatma Gandhi
Kashi Vidhyapith Varanasi-
221002
E-mail Id : navratansingh001@gmail.com
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1- T. S. Eliot’s Tradition and Individual Talent

Eliot's essay Tradition and Individual Talent (First

published in 1 9 I9 in the Times Literary Supplement ) is an
unofficial manifesto of Eliot's critical creed, for it contains all
those critical principles from which criticism has been derived
ever since. Eliot is of the opinion that the writer must have faith
i n some system of writing and that a work of art must conform
to the past tradition. According to him, a work of art must
conform to tradition in such a way that it alters the tradition as
much as it is directed by it. According to Eliot's conception
tradition- and the individual talent go together.
Tradition is the gift of the historic sense. A. writer w ith this
sense of trad ition is fu lly conscious of his own generation, of his
place in the present; but he is also acutely conscious of his
relationship w ith the writers of the past. The historical sense
in vol ves a perception, "not on ly of the pastness of the past,
but also of its presence. One who has the historic sense feels
that the whole of the literature of Eu rope from Homer down to
his own day, including the literature of his own country, forms
one continuous literary tradition ."
In brief, the sense of tradition implies (a) a recognition
of the contin u ity of l iterature, (b) a critical judgment as to
wh ich of the writers of the past contin ue to be sign ificant in
the present, and (c) a knowledge
of these sign ificant writers obtained th rough painstaking effort.
Tradition represent the accu m u lated w isdom and
experi ence of ages, and so its knowledge is essential for
really great and noble achievements.
In After Strange Gods, Eliot defines tradition in the following
manner: "Tradition:-s not solely, or even pri marily, the
maintenance of certain dogmatic beliefs, these beliefs have
come to take their living form i n the course of the form ation of
a tradition. What I mean by tradition invol ves all those
habitual actions, habits, and customs, from the most
sign ificant religious rites to ou r conventional way of
greeting a stranger, which represent the blood ki nship of the
same people living in the same place." Trad ition, he says, is
"the mean s by which the vitality of the past enriches the life of
the present. "
The work of a poet in the present is to be compared and
contrasted with works of the past, and judged by the
standards of the past. But this judgment does not mean
determining good or bad. It does not mean deciding whether
the present work. is better or worse than works of the past.
An author in the present is certainly not to be judged by the
princi ples and the standards of the past. The comparison is to
be made for knowi ng the facts, all the facts, about the new work
of art. The com parison is m ade for the pu rpose of analysis,
and for forming a better understand i ng of the new.
Moreover, this comparison is reciprocal. The past helps us
to understand the present, and the present th rows light on
the past. It is in this way alone that we can form an idea of
what is really individual and new. It is by com parison alone
that we can sift the traditional from the individual elements in
a given work of art.
The artist m ust contin uall y surrender himself to something
which is more val u able than himself, i.e., the literary tradition.
He m ust allow h is poetic sensibility to be shaped and m od ified
by the past. He must contin ue to acquire the sense of tradition
throughout his career. I n the beginning, h is self, his
individ uality, m ay assert extinction of personality. He m ust
acquire greater and greater objectivity. H is emotions and
passions m ust be depersonalized; he m ust be as i mpersonal
and objective as a scientist. The personality of the artist is
not im portant; the im portant thing is his sense of tradition.
A good poem is a living whole of all the poetry that has ever
been written. He m ust forget his personal joys and sorrows,
and be absorbed in acquiring a sense of tradition and
expressing it in his poetry. Thus the poet's personality i s
merely a medium, h avi n g the sam e significance as a
catalytic agent, or a receptacle in which chemical reactions
take place. That is why Eliot holds that, "Honest criticism
and sensitive appreciation is directed not u pon the poet but
upon the poetry."
The working of the poet's mind is like that of a
catalytic agent-it is like the shred of platinum which hel ps
in the formation of sulphuric acid but which itself remai ns
unaffected. If that is so it is not the intensity ·of the
emotions which enters into the maki ng of great poetry but
'the intensity of the artistic process, the pressure, so to
speak, under which the fusion takes place. "There may
even be an inverse relationship between the private
experiences of the poet and their expression in his poetry-
the experiences which are valuable for the man may not be
important for the man. That is why Eliot considers
Wordsworth's form ula 'emotion recollected in
tranquility' as being inadeq uate for defining the poetic
process, for it is something new which emerges out of the
concentration of experience w ith in the poet's mind is thus
a kind of escape from his personality.
The experiences which-enter the poetic process, says
Eliot, may be of two kinds. They are emotions and feelings.
Poetry may be composed out of emotions only or out of
feelings only, or out of both. The poet's mind is like a jar
or receptacle in which are stored n u m berless feelings,
emotions, etc. They remain there in an unorganized and
chaotic form till "all the particles which can unite to form 3:
new compound are present together." Thus poetry is
organization rather, than inspiration And ··the greatness of
a poem depends on its organization and not on
emotions. • The more i ntense the poetic process the
greater the poem is.
 Rejecting romantic subjecti vism Eliot says: "Poetry is
not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from
em otion; it is not the expression of the personality, but an
escape from personality." Eliot, however, does not deny
personality or emotion to the poet. On ly, he m ust
depersonalize his emotions. There should be an
extinction of his personality.
To conclude tradition is like taboo. Tradition involves all
those habit and customs from the most significant religious
rite to our conventional way of greeting a stranger, which
represent the blood kinship of the same people living in the
same place. Tradition is not a matter of feeling alone.
Tradition changes with the change in the conditions of life.
Tradition is n ot something imm ovabl e, it is something
constantl y growing and becoming different from what the
essential and unessential , the good and the bad , in a
particular tradition, and on ly the good and the essential m ust be
followed and revived.

- Salient Features
I . "Tradition and Indiv id ual Talent," first pu blished in 1819, an unofficial
m an ifesto of Eliot’s crit ical creed, contains al l h is important critical
principles.

2. A rt m ust conform to tradition and individual talent shou ld go

together.
3. Tradit ion is the gift of the historic sense wh ich i n vol ves a percept
ion of the past as well as the presen t.

(a) a recognition of the cont i n uity of literatu re;

(b) a crit ical judgment as to which of the writers of the past contin ue
to be sign i ficant in the present;

(c) A knowledge of t hese significant w ri ters obtained through

pai n stak i ng effort.

5. Tradit ion represents the accumulated w isdom an d experience of

ages, an d so i ts k no w l ed ge is essential for really g reat
an d noble achievements.

6. The art i st m u st surrender hi m self to the literary tradition

which is m ore val uabl e than him self. He m ust allow h is
poetic sensibili ty to be shaped an d m od i fied by the past.
The poet m ust surren der his personality.

7. Em oti on recollected in tranquility is an inadeq uate theory.

Poet ry is neither em otion, nor its recollect ion, nor tranquility. The
poet's mind is like a jar or receptacle in which are stored
n u m berless feeli ngs, em otion s an d the poet's i magi n ation
puts them together.

8. Poet ry is an escape from bot h emot i on and personality .

It is depersonalize emotion.

9. Trad ition may be like taboo, but it ch anges; it is not static.

It is someth i ng con stantl y grow i ng.
Question-
1- Discuss Eliot’s views on individual talent in relation to
tradition?
2- What according to T.S. Eliot is the relation between
tradition and Individual talent?
Books Consulted
1- Principles and History of Literary criticism by R.L. Varshney.
2- Principles and History of Literary criticism by S.C. Mundhra &
S.C. Agrawal.