Note on Eliot's Concept of Tradition and Theory of Impersonality of Poetry

Eliot discusses the concept of tradition and the theory of impersonality of poetry in his essay “Tradition and Individual talent”. According to the author, the English find the word ‘tradition’ disagreeable to them and praise a poet for those aspects of his work which are ‘individual’ and original. Tradition does not mean a blind adherence or slavish imitation of the ways of the previous generations. It is a matter of much wider significance. Tradition in the true sense of the term cannot be inherited, it can only be obtained by hard labour. This labour is the labour of knowing the past writers. Tradition can be obtained only by those who have the historical sense. The historical sense involves an understanding of the entire history of his European literature to the present and also the literature of his/her country.

The theory of Impersonality of poetry. The artist must continually surrender himself to something which is more valuable than himself, i.e. the literary tradition. He must allow his poetic sensibility to be shaped and modified by the past. In the beginning, his self, his individuality, may assert itself, but as his powers mature there must be greater and greater extinction of personality. “the progress of the artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality”. In other words, the poet’s emotions and passages must be depersonalised.

Eliot compares the mind of the poet to a catalyst and the process of poetic creation to the process of a chemical reaction. The poet’s mind is necessary for new combinations of emotions and experiences to take place, but it itself does not - undergo any change during the process of poetic combination. The personality of the poet does not find-expression in his poetry. There should be an extinction of his personality .It is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.”

This impersonality can be achieved only when the poet acquires a sense of tradition in the historic sense, which makes him conscious, not only of the present, but also of the past and its presence.