Roll
No: 11
Paper
No: (7) Literary theory &
Criticism
Topic:
Analysis of T.S Eliot’s Essay
Tradition and Individual Talent
M.A:
Sem-2
Submitted
to: department of English
v
Introduction:
Eliot, T.S. Poet, Critic
and Editor was born Thomas Stearns Eliot in St.louis, Missouri ,the son of
Henry ware Eliot, president of the Hydraulic-press Brick company and charlotte champe
Stearns, a formal teacher ,and Energetic social Work volunteer at the Humanity
club of st.Louis, and an amateur poet with a taste for Emerson. Eliot entered
Harvard in1906, and, after one year at the Sorbonne in peris, he spent a year
at oxford reading Greek Philosophy. After a brief Experience of teaching at
Highgate School, he Entered Business, and spent Eight years in Lloyd’s Bank in
the city.
v
T.S. Eliot
Traditional and Individual Talent:
Introduction:
“Tradition and Individual Talent” was 2published in
1919 in The Egoist- the times Literary supplement. Later, the essay was published
in scared wood: Essays on poetry and criticism and 1920/02. This essay is
described by David Lodge as the most celebrated essay in the English of the 20th
century.
v
The Essay is
Divided into three Section:
v
Eliot, Tradition
has a three fold
Significance:
Ø Tradition cannot be inherited and involves a great
deal of labour and Erudition.
Ø It in involves the historical sense which involves apperception
not only of the pastness of past, but also of its presence.
Ø The historical sense enables a writer to write not
only with his own generation in mind, but with a feeling that the whole of the
literature from Homer down to the literature of his own country forms a
continuous literary tradition.
In his essay
“Tradition and Individual Talent” Eliot says that the Englishmen have a
tendency to insist, when they praise a poet, upon those aspects of his work in
which he least resembles anyone else.
In T.S.Eliot’s essay “Tradition and Individual
Talent”, he proposition what he feels are the applicable method’s for a
new artist to comprehend ourselves into
the literary tradition that has come before them.T.S. Eliot is mainly anxious
with what he describe as the tradition of poetry. In Eliot’s opinion,a poet is
not an individual separate from the rest of literary history. A poet cannot in
a sense make original art without being conscious of the entire past of
literature and how is art relates to that past. For Eliot the past is still a
vital article that shapes the way poetry should be written and interpreted.
The essay,“Tradition and Individual
Talent” begins with Eliot discuss to the way “Tradition” is as a rule mark in
English literature as being somewhat absent. Eliot’s essay also connected with
pastness of past. Eliot make a point the importance of a historical view of
tradition and expresses that this can
only obtained through rigorous work. Eliot also feels that English literature
lacks a certain formalized aspect that is prevalent is French literature. Eliot
is also discuss in his essay the concept of talent as being discussed in term of
how different one poet is from another. Eliot says that we should not value
poets who are different from their prodecessors.
In Eliot’s
opinion, many of the best traits found in a poet are things that they have
learned from their poetic ancestors, implicit things that are not easily
distinguishable in poetic style. We find the dead poets in the present poets
not in their impressionable period of adolescence but in the period of their
full maturity.
According to Eliot tradition and
Individual Talent are not separate entity. They are inseparable and hence go
together, also know that knowledge of tradition plays vital role in the
development of personal talent. Eliot writes “Tradition is the matter of much
wider significance it cannot be inherited and if you want if you must obtain it
by great labour. It involves the historical sense. Let’s see the what is
meaning of historical sense.
“The historical sense involves a
perception, not only of the pastness of the
past, but of its presence”, the historical sense involves a write not
merely with his own generation in his bones. This historical sense, which is a
the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal
together.
Ø The writer should be aware of the past and how the
mistakes of the past should not repeat be in the contemporary time. For example:
it one person slips by putting his leg on a Banana this incident might get an
idea and he will not do the same.
Ø Every writer writes to reflect the “expression of self
the mixture of timeless and temporal is necessary to create a work”.
Ø The historical sense means the understanding of the
people’s mind also the writer’s time it play the vital role in the development
of personal talent.
v
The close relationship
and interdependence of the past and
present:
Eliot gives
importance to the interdependence of past and the present. He finds not countradictionary
but supplementary elements in the co-relationship of the past and present.
“No
poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance,
his appreciation is the appreciations of his relation to the dead poets and
artist. You cannot value him alone; you must set him, for contrast and
comparison, among the dead. I means this as a principle of aesthetic, not
merely historical critical criticism”.
A work of art is created is something that
happens simultaneously to all the works of art which preceded it. The existing
monuments from an ideal order among themselves. Which is modified by the
introduction of the really new work of art among them. A work of art has two
dim ensious- it is at once personal and universal. It is an individual
composition, but at the same time, its inclusion into tradition determines its
worth and universal appeal. A writer must be aware that he belongs to a larger
tradition and there is always an impact of tradition and him. Individual is an
element formed by and forming the culture to which he belongs. He should
surrender his personality to something larger and more significant.
Eliot’s is of the view
that the present work of art should not be judged by the standard of past. The
present work also may not conform to the standard at the past but it should not
decide whether the work of art is good or bad. Eliot explains it in a peculiar
sense he will be aware also that he must inevitably be judged by the standards
of the past. I say judged, not amputed, by them; not judged to be as good as or
worse or better then, the dead; and certainly not judged by the can us of dead
critics. It is a judgment, a comparison, in which two things are measured by
each other. The conform that the new work not really to conform at all; it
would not be new, and would therefore not be a work at art. And we do not quite
say that the new is more valuable because it fifs in; but its ffitting in is a
test of its value- a test, of it is true. Which can only be slowly and
cautiously applied, for we are noe of us intallible judges of conformity to be
traditional in Eliot’s sense means to be conscious of the main currect of art
and poetry. The poem/poet must be very cocious of the main currect , which does
not at all flow invariably through the most distinguished reputations. He must
be quite aware of the obvious fact that art never improves, but that the
material of art is never quite the same. He writes: “The difference between the
present and past is that the conscious present is an awareness of the past in a
way and to all extent which the past’s awareness of itself cannot show”.
Tradition does not mean uncritical imitation
of the past, nor does it mean only erudition. Tradition does not simply blind
adherence to the literary tradition of the past tradition. Individual talent
means creativity of poet’s mind also which differs from other writer
“Some can absorb knowledge; the more tardy
must sweat forit”.
We find
distinction between knowledge and pendantry. The quete describe that we should
work hard and some become distinct by their power. Some may read a lot but are
not able to create anything, while some just by using the power of their
observation may become a great writer.
v We can say that past is also remember our history.
History is the past. Eliot’s essay he write about pastness of past and present.
we all are know that what is past and present past is always remember the
history and present is always remember our everyday life. I would like to
explain it by giving the example of Bajirao mastani which also tried to connect
past with present. Like in the movie there is
v one dialogue:
चिते की चाल,बाज की नजर और बाजीराव की तलवार पर संदेह नही करते कभी भी मात दे शक़ती है.
Who knows Bajirao ever
spoke this dialogue in his life or not but people liked it very much. Which
best example of history who adjust with present time.
v
Theory of
depersonalization:
Eliot’s
theory of depersonalization is related with a chemical process. This process
person is not present in the poem. Poetry is not expression but it is an escape
from emotion. In the mind of the poet is the shared of platinum. The two gases
oxygen and sulphur dioxide. Oxygen is emotion and sulphur dioxide is the
feeling of man. Here platinum the process there is not presence of platinum
found in it. According to him the mind if the poet must not affected by the
poem. “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. But, of
course, only those who have personality and emotion know what it means to want
to escape from these things.
Eliot was observing that what makes a poem a
poem is not the relationship it has with its author, but the effect it has an
its reader. In way the quote describe the poetry written by him is not the
expression of his personal emotion but escape from emotion feeling.
v Conclusion:
T.S.Eliot as critic and he gives some idea to understanding new criticism
to understand better way also. Eliot inspired and informed the movement of new
critic.
To evaluate my assignment click here
To evaluate my assignment click here
No comments:
Post a Comment