Thinking activity on T.S Eliot's Tradition and Individual Talent.

(1) How would you like to explain Eliot's concept of Tradition? Do you agree with it?

• Yes, I completely agree with T.S Eliot's concept of Tradition. Eliot says in his essay that the tradition is not just the history of any writer's work but it is something special for Eliot and believes that every poet and writer must contribute his/her individual talent to the tradition, because past is not just past but it has influence on the preset time. Eliot wants the writer to put the tradition into their work but differently.

(2) What do you understand by Historical Sense? (Use these quotes to explain your understanding)

• "The historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the present but of its presence"

• This quote suggest that the past is not just past, this past is mingled to the present. It is like present perfect continuous tense that means tradition has started which effect or influence is still existed in the present time works.

• "This historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional"

• It means the modern poet has to use the traditional concept in their work, by this way a writer can be the traditional writer. And work also will seem modern as well as faithful to the tradition

(3) What is the relationship between “tradition” and “the individual talent,” according to the poet T. S. Eliot?

• In his essay the relationship of Tradition and Individual Talent is a kind of relationship between tradition and Individual Talent is like a relationship between the modern psychology with the principals of psychology given by the Sigmund Freud. For understanding the psychology or to give some ideas and principal in the field of psychology one has to read psychology of Sigmund Freud. Exactly in literature, according to T.S.Eliot our 'Individual Talent' must walk together with the 'tradition' on the path of creative writing.

(4) Explain: "Some can absorb knowledge, the more tardy must sweat for it. Shakespeare acquired more essential history from Plutarch than most men could from the whole British Museum".

• According to T.S Eliot, a poet or a reader must be well read but what to do of those who are exceptional and yet have a very high poetic seriousness like Shakespeare. That's why Eliot put that quote in his essay because he knew that critic will definitely ask about Shakespeare's high poetic seriousness on attempting the criticism on his essay 'Tradition and Individual Talent' 

In this quote Eliot justifies the exceptional Shakespeare by saying that Shakespeare has a historical sense, he grasps the whole knowledge of the history, and not just history of his age but the whole, that's why Shakespeare is the greatest writer with high poetic justification in his works despite the fact that he was not much learned man. So, in this quote, according to T.S Eliot, the historical sense is the cause of Shakespeare's greatness.

(5) Explain: "Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry"

• It means, if any critic is going to criticize any poet or writer's work then a critic must be free from all personal as well as historical prejudices. He must judge poet's poetry rather poet, it doesn't matter what poet's historical background or what type of person he but he should look at the quality of poetry and how effectively or ineffectively it is influencing the socity and the humenkind.

(6) How would you like to explain Eliot's theory of ddepersonalization? You can explain with the help of chemical reaction in presence of catalyst agent, Platinum.

• Eliot says that whenever poet write something or try to create a piece of creative writing, he should not just use his imagination, poetic seriousness but also use the feelings, emotions, pain of suffering which has been suffered by him/her during his/her life. But the these pain and agony must no seen or appeared in his or her work, like the process of sulfuric acid in which platinum is used as a medium to produce the sulfuric acid, exactly the pain and greaf for life or by life should used just as a medium to create a peace of creative writing.

(7) Explain: " Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality."

• This quote says that poet should keep his/her feelings and emotions away from his/her work.no personal prejudices should come into you work.

(8) Write two points on which one can write critique on 'T.S. Eliot as a critic'.

• I think, 

(1) The idea of historical sense.

(2)  The theory of depersonalization.

this two points of T.S Eliot's essay 'Tradition and Individual Talent' can be the subject of critique for any critic.