Tradition and Individual talent

Tradition and Individual Talent
T.S.Eliot has published his essay,”Tradition and Individual Talent” IN 1919 IN THE EGOIST-The times literary supplement. and later in 1920 in The Sacred Wood; essay on poetry and criticism. This essay is also there in Eliot’s “selected Prose” and “selected essays”. His Contribution in the world of criticism but he is mostly famous for poetry .He is Comparable with Sir Philip Sidney and S.T.Coleridge as poet critic.
                            
Three Parts of Essay

Concept of “Tradition”.
Theory of Depersonalization.
Conclusion.

According to Eliot the work of Poet is the reflection of or maximum Influenced by his Past.implying blind Adherence to literary tradition of past. Tradition is not about Tradition it would mere amount of applying or Slavish imitation.

Three fold significance of Tradition according to Eliot
   
Tradition Can’t be inherit and it is a great deal of Knowledge based learning and labour also.
Historical sense is there with appreciation of Pastness of past and presence also.
And the historical sense evokes writer to write  not only about his generation but with the reference  of Homer to Literature of his country.

First Part:

Tradition is there in English literary criticism as a phrase of censure or criticizing.
Criticism as necessary activity.
Tradition as important to individual talent.

In this essay Eliot has said that after reading a book critic comes to know that the work is  not resemble as another work but actually it is an another’s idea which suggests individual and critic tries to find that is any similarities with poet’s contemporary and predecessors especially with his immediate predecessors.
Critics tries to Find out:
If something can be separated in order to be enjoyed.
Though he  studies tries to find something he studies poet honestly without any kind of prejudice.Eliot has said that it is not only about to find the best but it is about most individual of his work.
There are such examples that we find the Late poets in recent poets though it is not the period of their impressionable of their full maturity,he has mentioned that:
“Tradition and Individual Talent are not separate entity;there are inseparable and hence go together.”

Every writers writes for the living audience.

To Develope personal talent there should be vital role of knowledge of Tradition.
He further explains that :

The knowledge of pastness  of past or of presence historical sense drives a man to write with a feeling of whole literature of his own country.The sense of pastnes of past is timeless as well as and temporary and it is the metter which makes writer most acutely or sensitive or urgent and makes him conscious about his own place and time.

       Though creative writer lives in a social environment but in his work he doesn’t work with his own age,or literature as a separate identity.For writer literature is in generate from the ancient or classic age of the Greek to to the literature of his own as harmonius whole.

“Writer’s own efforts in creative art are not apart from it;
But it is a part of it.”

“Individual talent is a part of tradition”

Relationship of past and present.

Eliot has explained the importance and independence of past and present.In his words it is like;

        “No poet, no artist of any art has his mening alone,
    His apperesiation is the appericietion of his relation to the dead poet can’t be valued alone;
You must set for him, for comparision in and contrast,
Among dead.”

The  newly thing in work of art seems simultaneously to all the works of art-preceders of it.Before new work introduced the existing area is complete.The whole existing order altered, after the supervision of novelty and the relations,proportions ,values of each work of art are radjusted; and that is the conformity between the old and new.

e.g.,
      
           Shakespeare was non-classicist but wordsworth and Coleridge were the poets who brought Romanticism and thus past is  also there  in present.

Poet’s work and great works from past.

Eliot has said that only present work of art shoudn’t be measured by the standards of work of past. According to
Standards of past it can’t be decide  that whether the work of art is good, bad or average.If it happens than it is a kind of judgement.Which proves the work as good,or as worse.

Second Part
Theory of Depersonalization.

The starting of his second part Eliot says that :

“Honest Criticism and Sensitive appericiation
is directed not upon the poet
but upon the poetry”

The artist accepts the process of depersonalization; to get
Progress there is a continual exit of his personality.

To explain this Eliot has mentioned Chemical process.Analogy of that of catalyst. He exemplifies that when two gases of Oxygen and Sulpher Dioxide are getting mixed with the presence of Platinum as catalyst.The sulfuric acid emerges from that. This result only comes when there is the presence of platinum as catalyst without it both gases are remained neutral or unchanged.

SO3+ H2O= H2SO4
Presence of Platinum as catalyst.
Emotions&Feelings+Experience of Poet= Poetry.
Poet’s mind as catalyst.
The more complete the artist, The more he separate in him will  be the man who suffers and mind which creats.

Further he exemplifies that

“ Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion but an escape from emotion”

Third Part
In concluding part Eliot says that the poet’sense of Tradition and depersonalization of poetry are complementarary.He wrtes:
“ To divert interest from poet to the poetry is laudable aim.”

He ends this essay by saying that when there is expression of significant emotion of poet’s life very few knows it.He says that emotion of art is impersonal. And without surrendering himself wholly  to be done Poet can’t reach his impersonality.