Please discuss T. S. Eliot's Objective Theory in reference to his essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent."What influenced Elito's critical...

In the essay “tradition and the Individual Talent” Eliot presents his concept of tradition and  endeavours to define the concept of “poet” and poetry in relation to it.

As Eliot observes , "in English writing we seldom speak of tradition, though we occasionally apply its name in deploring its absence."

Eliot suggests that the English tradition generally upholds the belief that art progresses through change. This is a separation from tradition because  literary advancements are instead recognized only when they conform to the tradition. Eliot, felt that the true incorporation of tradition into literature was unrecognized, that tradition was  a word that "seldom... appear[s] except in a phrase of censure."

For Eliot, the term "tradition" is infused with special and complex meaning. It represents an historical timelessness. In other words, a fusion of past and present A poet must  be mindful of "the whole of the literature of Europe," while, at the same time portraying the world around him. Eliot challenges our view that a poet’s greatness and individuality lies in his departure from the work of previous poets. Eliot argues that

"the most individual parts of  [a poet’s] work may be those in which the dead poets provide inspiration."

This fidelity to tradition does not require the great poet to constantly ape the work of predecessors, novelty is possible, through tapping into tradition. When a poet engages in the creation of new work, he realizes an aesthetic "ideal order," as it has been established by the literary tradition that has come before him. The act of artistic creation does not take place in a vacuum. In Eliot’s own words:

"What happens when a new work of art is created is something that happens simultaneously to all the works of art that preceded it."

Eliot refers to this organic tradition, this developing canon, as the "mind of Europe." The private mind is subsumed by this more massive one.

Eliot inspired the movement known as New Criticism. These critics used a close analysis of particular passages and poems.