human experience For him the critic s duty was to find in literature an art of civilized living He always tried to protect moral and cultural standards in an age of industrialism and mass culture Influence of Eliot and Rejection of Romanticism Leavis was greatly influenced by T S Eliot especially his idea of Tradition and the Individual Talent He opposed the Romantic belief in private inspiration and isolated genius As he said We are apt to be under the influence of ideas and attitudes until rejected This line shows his rejection of the Romantic faith in emotion and inspiration Like Eliot Leavis believed that a writer must work within a living tradition Balance between Individual and Society Leavis believed that literature serves as the meeting point between individual talent and social culture He said Without the individual talent there is no creation Yet he also added It is only in individuals that society lives These lines show his balanced view For him the individual and society depend on each other Literature originates from a person s imagination but their social life shapes that imagination He criticized both Marxists and Romantics Idea of Cultural Health Leavis judged literature by its relation to cultural health He said What is the best conceivable public This question shows his concern for the link between writers and readers A healthy society should give its writers a good audience He admired Bunyan s The Pilgrim s Progress as a model of cultural balance between popular and refined taste He also praised Cecil Sharp s study of English Folk Songs as proof that even ordinary people can have a deep culture Critic of Modern Civilization Leavis was deeply worried about modern mechanical civilization He said No one seriously interested in modern literature can feel that it represents a satisfactory cultural order He thought industrialism and mass culture had destroyed the moral unity of society Literature had lost touch with common life Great writers like Shakespeare and Bunyan were close to their culture but modern writers were isolated Leavis wanted critics and teachers to restore this lost connection through serious study and value judgment In summary F R Leavis remains one of the most respected names in English criticism He joined the moral vision of Matthew Arnold with the technical insight of T S Eliot He believed that literature and society exist together and that criticism must guard moral and cultural life His work reminds readers that literature is not just for pleasure but for deep human understanding