Interpretation - T.S. Elliot "Traditional and the Individual Talent"

T.S. Elliot

1.     “Tradition and the Individual Talent” – I

a.     Criticism is natural and we learn from it when we can articulate our thoughts about it.

                                                        i.     We tend to look for things that catch our fancy: originality, things that make us happy, things that move us.

b.     Objectively criticizing a work, without looking to things that catch our fancy, will reveal the best works throughout time.

c.     There is more to tradition than just a recorded past.

                                                        i.     It enhances the dimension of literature from the past for its application to the present.

                                                      ii.     It elevates the author’s understanding of his work in place and time comparative to the past.

d.     It provides a sense to the author that his work is a contribution to history rather than an isolated piece of work.

                                                        i.     The author’s work never stands alone. 

1.     It is compared and evaluated to the works, standards, and poets of the past.

2.     New works affect perceptions of the past.

3.     There is interplay between past works guiding the present, and new works redefining the past.

                                                      ii.     The author’s work will be judged by how it fits in to the past and it’s originality.

                                                     iii.     The author needs to understand that art never really improves.

1.     Thoughts on his work will change over time as culture changes and as social knowledge and opinion shift and grow.

e.     The poet must have awareness and understanding of the past that he develops through his career.

2.     “Tradition and the Individual Talent” – II

a.     Honest criticism should be aimed at the art, not the poet.

b.     A skilled artist can craft expression through new combinations of emotion.

c.     There is a distinction between the artist who creates through the combination of emotion and the artist who suffers and describes the emotion.

                                                        i.     A skilled artist who creates will generate material that others can more easily interpret and enjoy.

d.     The mind is the anvil and the hammer.  Emotion and feeling are the raw elements on which poetry is combined and forged.

e.     The artistic process forges the greatness of the poem, not the greatness of the elements.

f.      There are disconnects between the man and the subject.  What might be important to the man might not be important to the poem and vice versa.

g.     The aim of a poet is to use ordinary emotions and forge them together to express feelings.

                                                        i.     Emotions which someone hasn’t experienced will serve him as well as emotions he’s familiar with.

h.     Poetry:

                                                        i.     Is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion.  Not a description of emotion, but the creative forging of emotional interactions.

                                                      ii.     Is not an expression personality, but an escape from personality.  It is not ego itself, but a way of crafting ego that other people can identify.

3.     “Tradition and the Individual Talent” – III

a.     Understanding Poetry.

                                                        i.     A lot of people can get the expression of poetry.

                                                      ii.     Some people can appreciate the technical excellence of a poem.

                                                     iii.     Very few people can identify an expression of significant emotion.

b.     Emotion is determined by the work, not the history or knowledge of the poet.

4.     “The Metaphysical Poets”

a.     Questions pertaining to if Metaphysical Poetry is a trend and how far it’s digressed from the main stream.

b.     It is difficult to describe.

c.     Metaphysical – The elaboration of a figure of speech to the furthest state to which ingenuity can carry it.

d.     It works best when:

                                                        i.     There are sudden and powerful contrasts.

                                                      ii.     The ideas are well put together and united.

                                                     iii.     Contrasts use figurative ideas that share the same principles but vary in degree.

                                                     iv.     The language is simple and elegant.

e.     The best frame of mind for poetry is when it is aligned with the ordinary man; constantly interpreting and evaluating the chaos, fragments, and irregularities of life.

f.      The skilled poet works interests and experiences into poetry, not just descriptions of them.

g.     Final thoughts:

                                                        i.     A truth or falsity in one sense ceases to matter and its truth in another sense is proved.

                                                      ii.     There is a skill associated with articulating various states of the mind and feelings.

                                                     iii.     Our culture knows and experiences a great deal.  The poet must become more subtle, allusive, and indirect to force meaning in his language.

                                                              Works Cited

Eliot, T.S.  The Metaphysical Poets.  The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.  Ed. Vincent B. Leitch et al.  2^nd ed. New York: W.W.Norton & Co., 2010. 961-968. Print.

Eliot, T.S.  Tradition and the Individual Talent.  The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.  Ed. Vincent B. Leitch et al.  2^nd ed. New York: W.W.Norton & Co., 2010. 955-961. Print.