T.S. Eliot notes that 'criticism is as inevitable as breathing' thus we should not pass judgement on ourselves 'for articulating what passes our minds'- this in itself is a juxtaposition, for if criticism can be read as judgement then it is inevitable. He recognises our tendency to draw comparisons between poets when reading their poetry, as 'we pretend to find what is individual'. When I draw comparisons between literature, it often is to prove to myself or to others how intellectually rounded I have become, a true english lit under grad that completes all my reading on time, if not before. As humans we like to be able to map our intellectual processes, to see how we have learned and 'bettered' ourselves, to show our worth in the human race. Eliot explains how it is important to do the opposite, (which is actually really the same) to notice the most 'individual parts of his work'. Really though, if we break this down, then it is the same as if we annotated all the components of a poem that link to previous works, and the parts left blank, are in fact the parts 'in which the dead poets, his ancestors, assert their immortality most vigorously.' If this is the case, as Eliot says it is, then is there any individuality at all, surely then the entire poem or poet of study is just a recreation of their ancestors? What then, did the first ever poems consist of? Are they the true symbols of individuality? Are we as modern writers doomed never to achieve true originality?
Well this brings us onto tradition.
Tradition can be obtained ('by great labour') by a 'sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together'. This is what Eliot says. I am not T.S. Eliot and I do not have such a wide vocabulary as the man, though I wish I did. You may not either, so although you may find it degrading I have looked up the word 'temporal', just to check that I have the right meaning.
tem·po·ral 1 (t
m
p
r-l, tmprl)
adj.
1. Of, relating to, or limited by time: a temporal dimension; temporal and spatial boundaries.
2. Of or relating to the material world; worldly: the temporal possessions of the Church.
3. Lasting only for a time; not eternal; passing: our temporal existence.
4. Secular or lay; civil: lords temporal and spiritual.
5. Grammar Expressing time: a temporal adverb.
By mixing temporal and the timeless together, we can achieve tradition.
Basically, writers very essence is made up from the writing and ideas from the past, you must situate everything not as truly individual, rather as a product of the entire history of everything ever. Though this sounds sarcastic, I do agree with Eliot, I believe what he writes, and I can see it in every piece of literature that I have read. The only place that this thought might not apply is in the poetry or mutterings of a small child- one that is caught early, before the influences of an entire history of humanity has crushed down upon him. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Check out the wasteland (video above)- this has obvious references to past literature (from mythology) but also has formatic similarity to authors such as Helen Mirrless 'Paris'. Perhaps this is merely unconscious influencing, Mirrlees was a friend of Eliot, and her poem was published 3 years before, perhaps it was a conscious move, though there is no real written evidence to suggest this. We must, however, expect all these links and ties, as Eliot himself claimed them to be true in Tradition and the Individual Talent. We are made up of the past- 'the difference between the present and the past is that the conscious present is an awareness of the past in a way and to an extent which the past's awareness of itself cannot show.'
Now start thinking about this 'Some one said: "The dead writers are remote from us because we know so much more than they did." Precisely, and they are that which we know.'
References: T.S. Eliot- Tradition and the Individual Talent
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