Page 328 - DENG502_PROSE

Prose

Notes has a wider significance. The comparison made out by Eliot between the mind of the poet and the
catalyst in a chemical reaction further confirms the point of view. He says : When the two gases,
previously mentioned are mixed in the presence of a filament of platinum they form sulphurous
acid. 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. The analogy
12
that Eliot puts forth makes it clear that the poetry is something entirely different from what is the
personal identity of the poet. This is principally the reason that Eliot, all along the length and
breadth of his critical writings, makes frequent use of terms like ‘transmate’, ‘transform’, ‘digest’,
etc. He further suggests : ... but the more perfect the artist, the more completely separate in him
will be the man who suffers and the mind which creates; the more perfectly will the mind digest
and transmute the passions which are its material.
Tradition and Individual Talent
Critical commentary manifesto of eliot’s critical creed. The essay “ tradition and individual
talent” was first published in 1919 in the times literary supplement, as a critical article. The essay
may be regarded as an unofficial manifesto of eliot’s critical creed, for it contains all those critical
priciples from which his criticism has been derived ever slince. The seed which have been sown
here come to fryition in his subsequent essays. It is a declaration of eliot’s critical creed and these
principles are the basis of all his subsequent criticism. Its Three Parts.
The Eassay is Divided Into Three Parts
The first part gives us eliot’s concept of tradition, and in the second part is developed his theory
of the impersonality of poetry. The short third part is in the nature of a conclusion, or summing up
of the whole discussion.
Tradition : Ways on which it can be acquired For eliot, tradition is a matter of much wider
significance. Tradition in the ture sence of the trem cannot be inherited, it can only be obtained by
hard labour. This this labour is the labours of the knowing the past writers. It is the critical labour
of shifting the good and useful. Tradition can be obtained only by those who have the histroical
sense.
The historical sense involves a preception “ not only of the pastness of the part, but also of ots
presense. One who has the histroic sense feels that the whole of the literture of europ from romar
down to his own day, including the literature of his own century, forms one continuous literary
tradition.
He realises thea past exists in present, and the past and present form one simultaneous order. This
historica sense is the sense of timeless and the temporal, as well as of the timeless and the temporal
together. It is this historic sense which makes a writer traditional. A writer with the sense of
tradition is fully conscius of his own genration, of his place in the present, but he is also acutely
conseious of his relationship with the writer of the past.
Dynamic Conception Of Tradition : Emphasising future the value of tradition, eliot points out that
no writers has his value and significance in isolation to judge the work of a poet or an artist, we
must compare and contrast his work with the work of poet and aritist in the past. Such comparison
and contrast is essential for forming an idea a new the real worth and significance of a new writer
and his work. Eilot’s conception of tradition is a dynamic one.
According to his view, tradition is not anything fixed and ststic, it is constantly changing, growing
and becoming different from what it is a writer in the present must seek gudinece from the past,
he must conform to the literary tradition, but just as the past directs and gudies the present, so the
present alters and modifies the past when a ne work of art is created, if it is a really new and
original the whole literary tradition is modified though ever so silghtly.

322 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY