T.S. Eliot on Literary Tradition and Individual Talent
T.S. Eliot on Tradition and Individual Talent
Perhaps they are; but we might remind ourselves that criticism is as inevitable as breathing, and that we should be none the worse for articulating what passes in our minds when we read a book and feel an emotion about it, for criticizing our own minds in their work of criticism. One of the facts that might come to light in this process is our tendency to insist, when we praise a poet, upon those aspects of his work in which he least resembles anyone else. In these aspects or parts of his work, we pretend to find what is individual, what is the peculiar essence of the man. We dwell with satisfaction upon the poet’s difference from his predecessors, especially his immediate predecessors; we endeavor to find something that can be isolated in order to be enjoyed. Whereas if we approach a poet without this prejudice, we shall often find that not only the best, but the most individual parts of his work may be those in which the dead poets, his ancestors, assert their immortality most vigorously. And I do not mean the impressionable period of adolescence, but the period of full maturity.
T. S. Eliot, “Tradition and the Individual Talent”
Eliot’s View on Praising Poets
Eliot claims we should not pay attention to these individual parts of a poet, what makes a poet different from the others. We must eliminate this idea of the passage of time and look at tradition as a whole because a group of members can be highlighted although they were linked to different times. He intends to avoid the way of looking at past poets as past times because they are part of our tradition and the contemporary parts are influenced by them.
Originality and Individuality in Literature
Eliot is complaining about the way we understand tradition in literature. We shouldn’t explain the literary tradition by means of each individual part of a poet but as a whole unit. We have to avoid looking at literary tradition within the idea of the passage of time. Tradition must be made up by the presence of the past great authors. As we see in class, Eliot looks at tradition as something simultaneous and synchronic. That’s why we can say that Eliot could be modified by Shakespeare and Eliot could modify Shakespeare. Eliot denies the idea of a tradition without the presence of the past authors. Eliot’s point of view contradicts our vision of originality, which is based on romantic ideas and the importance of focusing our attention on the individual of each author.
Eliot’s Use of “Prejudice” in Literary Criticism
In this fragment, the meaning of prejudice for Eliot concerns the idea of avoiding the conception of looking at tradition as a unification of the different individual parts of a poem. We must forget this prejudice and pay attention to the past authors. The prejudice for Eliot is what makes us criticize literary works based on uniqueness and individuality.