Tradition and the Individual Talent : Summary

Summary

Tradition: Tradition is generally considered as the beliefs and rituals passed down from generation to generation by a community/country. Eliot, however, eschews any blind adherence to tradition. He clearly exhorts all poets and artists to adhere to the concept of tradition with discretion and intelligence.

Individual Talent: Individual talent is that through which a poet can retouch and color the past with artistic quality.

Main Point of the Essay: The entire essay focuses on the importance of history and tradition in literature and the importance of history and tradition in understanding poetry.

Today we will learn about Tradition and Individual Talent Summary. Tradition and Individual Talent is written by our well-known TS Eliot i.e. Thomas Sterne Eliot. From the title of this article, we can basically understand a lot about what is discussed here.

The main theme of the essay is about what should be the relationship between tradition and talent. Moreover, the influence of tradition and individual talent on what kind of changes can occur in literature is also discussed.

The article has been discussed mainly in three parts which are:

• Tradition
• Talent
• and on the compatibility and relationship of tradition and individual talent.

The ideas that are developed throughout the article in discussing these three topics are:

• Idea of Tradition
• Idea of Individuality / Individual Talent
• According to Eliot, what would the perfect literary work be like?
• Tradition and individual talent in the eyes of critics

Idea of Tradition: Eliot discusses the issues here mainly from the perspective of the American society of the time. At that time there was an idea in America that something traditional meant something old or old or perfect. Literally, when we go to highlight any traditional or old method or old issue in our country, we say that the matter has become traditional.

Eliot’s concept of tradition: Eliot tries to explain the traditional subject by going beyond the traditional concept. Here he tries to give an idea of heritage as well as tradition. What we generally mean by heritage is that which has descended to us successively from our ancestors. For example, if our forefathers were involved in a particular business and if we continue it during our time, then this business will be considered as our heritage. Whereas tradition actually means a special habit or cultural existence of a particular race or country that has existed among people from ancient times till now. For example, these can be said as traditions for Bangladeshi people such as boating, Charyapad, and Navanna festival.

But Eliot refuses to accept this. According to him, the tradition will not only include the things of the past but also everything that is present in the present will fall into the tradition. That is, tradition cannot be described through blind imitation. Tradition consists mainly of past and present existence.

Importance of knowing history: Here is another reason for Elliott’s current drag. What he wants us to understand is that when we are going to talk about tradition we need to know our history well. Because without knowing about the history it is not possible to measure the depth of any tradition. Eliot’s main aim was to create a harmony between the traditions of the past and the existence of the present with the help of history. And that is why he did not want to confine the tradition only to the past but also spread it to the present.

According to Eliot, tradition is not only the past but also a form of perception. That is, when a man talks about tradition, he is not only talking about his own past. Since a knowledge of history is necessary to discuss traditions, he can present everything from the beginning to the end in the light of history. Thus starting from the past with reference to history, a harmony between the past and the present can be created which is very important for the present generation.

As you think now if someone wants to write a book about the history of the liberation war of Bangladesh, he should have complete knowledge from the very beginning of the history. In that case, it is only possible to write a successful liberation war book if you have knowledge about the beginning of the liberation war and the actual Context of the war. Only then can he present the old traditions of the country to the present generation by combining them with the present traditions? The author says that if any literary work is to be called successful, it should be seen how well he has presented the sources of his history to the present.

Individual talent: The next thing that comes to us is Individual Talent. In general language, individual talent means the ability of an individual. But the author means individual talent if a person can present history and tradition very beautifully in harmony with the present, then this skill will be considered as individual talent.

We have already learned that a successful literary work is defined as those literary works which fully emerge from its past traditions and history as well as present some kind of allusion to them. And when a person is able to create a successful literary work, this skill is described by the writer as individual talent.

Here are some examples to make it easier for you.

Example of Nelson Mandela: If we want to understand this from our real life, we can understand it through some examples. For example, if you have read Nelson Mandela’s I Have a Dream speech, you will understand why he gave this speech. Behind his speech was black freedom, i.e. blacks were considered slaves at the time and were treated as such. But he gave this speech for the independence of the blocs, which is considered as a tradition today and around the world. This speech is a piece of history. But if you notice that the brilliance of his speech has not died down in that history but even today when black people dominate anywhere in the world, this speech echoes in their minds. And this is one example of a harmony and relationship between tradition and individual talent.

Example from Bangladesh: Again, the big movements in Bangladesh started from TSC junction in Shahbagh where the pigeon and Aparajita sculptures were established as a symbol of peace. They are a part of the tradition and history of Bangladesh from different times and still, people call for agitation from these places when they are discriminated against. So these too but the tradition of the country and the skill of its architects can be called individual talent.

For example, science reactions: And this is how successful literature is created. The author here explains the matter through a reaction of science. When sulfur and oxygen react in the presence of copper, an acid called sulfur dioxide is formed, but there is no copper present. In the same way, when a writer composes a literary work with his own skill on past history and tradition, there is no personal element of his own.

Drawing on history from WB Yeats: However, many cite WB Yeats’ poem as a reference to his repeated references to his lover in his poems. But here we can see that Yeats drags his lover into his poems but basically maintains the essence of poetry by highlighting universal issues. That is, his lover is not described personally in the poem, but he sheds light on various issues by taking his lover as an example.

Criticism of William Wordsworth’s Definition of Poetry: William Wordsworth gave a definition of poetry which states that poetry is an idea that flows spontaneously from a person’s mind to his subconscious mind. But Eliot Poetrit calls this definition incomplete definition. According to Eliot, if the poet writes the poem unconsciously while writing the poem, then he can never write based on his tradition and history. Even if the lines of the poem flow from the mind to the subconscious mind, there will be no need for literature or the acquisition of literary knowledge. But if the literary work does not have the touch of tradition and history, then it can never be a perfect literary work.

According to Eliot, What Would the Perfect Literary Work Be Like: Eliot says that when a poet writes a poem he has a specific theme and knowledge of tradition and literature. He will write literary works based on it. It is not possible to write a perfect literary work without historical knowledge. From this, many people may ask that we need to acquire knowledge about history to create literary works.

The Writer should be Aware of History: In this case, Eliot replied that there is no need to acquire knowledge of history or tradition to create a suitable literary work, but rather to be aware of history.

No Personal Fillings: And the biggest thing here is that there can never be any personal opinion or any personal feelings in a literary work. The more a work of literature can be freed from personal opinion, the more likely it is to be perfect. Moreover, when a literary work is composed, wisdom and modesty will come into it only when there are no opinions of one’s own but all references are from literature and tradition. Through this theory, Eliot basically originated the depersonalized theory in literary works.

There will be Literary Criticism: It is regarded as an objective critique in terms of discussion and structure. That is, Eliot here mainly criticizes literature. According to Eliot, if literature is not criticized, literature will never reach perfection and will never have life. However, while criticizing, it should be kept in mind that one should never criticize a writer, but the literary work should be criticized.

Tradition and Individual Talent in the Eyes of Critics: According to contemporary critics, Tradition and Individual Talent is a complex literary criticism. The reason for this is that the words and language used in this essay are very complex and difficult. But despite the difficulty in diction, Eliot elaborates on each of his terms and words, making the essay one of the places in the history of literature.

This was the Tradition and Individual Talent Summary. Finally, let’s note once again that the main discussion here is about tradition, individual talent, and the relationship between tradition and individual talent. Hope you like the summary.