Virgil Dante Rachin and Shakespeare as great writers of the past He writes The historical sense involves a perception not only of the pastness of the past but of its presence This means that when a poet writes he must be aware of all that has been written before him His new poem should not destroy the past but should fit into that old order and add something new to it Eliot s classicism teaches this balance respect for the old and creation of the new at the same time Impersonality in Art Eliot s idea of impersonality also shows his classical attitude According to him poetry should not be a personal confession or emotional outburst It should be a carefully made piece of art He writes Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion but an escape from emotion This means that a poet should not directly write about his personal feelings He should use his emotions as material to create something higher and impersonal This view is opposite to the Romantic poets like Wordsworth and Shelley The Romantic poets freely expressed their own feelings Eliot argues that art needs discipline and control not emotional outpouring Unity Order and Reason Eliot s classicism gives great importance to order reason and unity in poetry According to him great art must have a clear structure and logic The poet should depend not only on emotion but also on thought and knowledge Eliot s love for writers like Dante and the metaphysical poets comes from this sense of balance and intellect His love for form and order makes him close to classical thinkers who valued rules over wild imagination European and Universal Outlook Eliot s classicism is not limited to England He sees European literature as a single united tradition He believes that the poet should know the mind of Europe not just his own small country or only his private mind He must be aware that the mind of Europe much more important than his own private mind Eliot in his famous poem The Waste Land uses classical myths to discuss modern problems By joining the old with the new he has made his poetry rich deep and universal Criticism of Romanticism Eliot s classical ideas are also a reaction against Romanticism Romantic poets believed that poetry should express personal feelings and imagination without limits Eliot rejects this He says that a great poet must sacrifice his personal self and become a part of the larger tradition In this way Eliot s classicism stands against the emotional self-expression of Romanticism In conclusion Eliot s classicism stands for discipline tradition and impersonal art He believes that poetry should express universal truth not private emotion His love of order unity and control has made him a true modern classicist