Thinking Activity- Eliot's 'Tradition and Individual Talent.

This blog is written in response to the thinking activity given on Eliot’s essay ‘Tradition and Individual Talent’ by Dr. Dilip Barad sir at the Department of English, MKBU.

T.S. Eliot 

T.S. Eliot (1888 - 1965) was an American-born British poet, playwright, and literary critic. He is considered one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, and is often regarded as one of the founders of modernism. He is best known for his poem The Waste Land, which is considered a masterpiece of modernist poetry. His other major works include 'The Four Quartets', 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock', and 'Murder in the Cathedral'.

Eliot was also a noted critic, writing extensively on literature, drama, and religion. He is considered one of the most important literary critics of the twentieth century, and his essays, such as The Metaphysical Poets and Tradition and the Individual Talent, have had a major impact on the development of literary theory. Eliot also wrote extensively on philosophy, particularly on the nature of belief and faith, and his works helped to introduce and popularize such concepts as the objective correlative and the concept of the "dissociation of sensibility". Eliot's critical works have had a lasting influence on the way we approach literature and art.

T. S. Eliot's essay, 'Tradition and individual talent'

Eliot's essay, "Tradition and Individual Talent," examines the relationship between literary tradition and the artistic worth of individual works of literature. Eliot argues that each poet must be aware of the literary tradition in which he or she is writing and that the poet's individual talent must be seen as an extension of that tradition. He argues that individual works of literature must be judged in reference to the historical context in which it was created, and that the poet must be aware of the tradition in order to create something truly unique. Eliot concludes by asserting that the poet must strive to surpass the tradition in order to create something original and meaningful.

Eliot's concept of Tradition and  Historical Sense 

What Traditions generally means is, the handing down of information, beliefs, or customs from one generation to another.

If we want to say it in an easy term, ‘At a particular place over a period of time, people believe in certain principles and beliefs and carry out their way of life.’

Countries and nations try to preserve their tradition and as an essential part of their nation they want to hand it over to the newer generations.

When Eliot talks about Tradition he is talking about it in positive manner and emphasizes on the term “The Historical Sense” and he writes in his Essay that,

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

“This 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.” 

Here in the historical sense he is talking about understanding the past writers and poets and adding up to what they have given to literature and society. 

“The writer writes with history in his bones.”

 The historical sense does not compel man to write merely with his own generation in his bones but with a feeling that the whole of the literature of his own country has as simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order. 

No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists. It's not about actual dead people but what they left for us in  the name of literary tradition or the literature of them. Those artist must understand the past writers and surrender and sacrifice herself to the past artist. 

For Eliot tradition has a three fold significance. Firstly tradition can not be inherited and involves a great deal of labour and hardwork and erudition. Secondly, it involves the historical sense which involves appreciation not only of the pastness of the past but also of its presence. Thirdly, the historical sense enable a writer to write not only with his own generation in mind but with a feeling that the whole of the literature form Homer down to the literature of his own country forms a continuous literary tradition.

“No author makes sense all by himself”

By this Eliot does not mean that you have to completely devote to the past but to get and develop The Historical sense. To get that historical sense writers and artist have to go through the past artists and masters of literature, they have to understand the tradition, but that also does not means to read and know everything for that Eliot says,

"Some can absorb knowledge, the more tardy must sweat for it. Shakespeare acquired more essential history from Plutarch than most men could from the whole British Museum".

 This is a very interesting quote in which Eliot is suggesting that the historical sense is not something that comes very easily.  While some people can absorb knowledge easily, others must work hard to acquire it. He uses the example of Shakespeare, who was able to gain more essential historical knowledge from Plutarch's writings than most people could from the entire British Museum. Eliot is emphasising the importance of individual talent in the acquisition of knowledge, and how even those who must work hard to acquire knowledge can still achieve great success. He is also implying that the greatest artists can access knowledge and insight through their own unique perspectives, which in turn can help them create great works of art. In this way, Eliot is making a powerful statement about the importance of individual talent and creativity in the acquisition of knowledge.

Eliot's theory of depersonalization with example of SO3 and H2O  chemical reaction in presence of catalyst agent, Platinum.

The business of the poet is not to find new emotions, but to use the ordinary ones and in working them up into poetry to express feelings  which are not in actual emotions at all, and emotions which he has never experienced will serve his turn as well as those familiar to him. Consequently we must believe that “emotions recalled in tranquillity” is an intext formula, for it is neither emotions nor recollection, nor without distortion of meaning, tranquillity. It is a concentration and a new thing resulting from the concentration. 

Lets understand it though the scientific experiment of SO3 and H2O.

The process in which the SO3 and H2O combines and forms H2SO4 only in presence of platinum in the same way the poet's presence works for the literature. This combination takes place only if the Platinum is present, nevertheless the newly formed acid contains no trace of platinum and the platinum itself is apparently unaffected and has remained inert, neutral and unchanged.

“The mind of the poet is the shred of platinum. It may partly or exclusively operate upon the experience of the man himself but the more perfect the artist the more completely separate in him will be the man who suffers and the mind which creates.”

Through this Eliot says that a poet has to make himself aloof from what he creates. He has to hide his personality and the emotions and suffering that he feels and totally pour his mind into what he creates. He has to surrender himself to the tradition and completely separate himself from his creative self. Art and artists should be separated.