How does a poet meet his maturity T S Eliot - the writer of Tradition and the Individual Talent explains how a poet reaches artistic maturity He believes that a poet does not become mature by showing personal emotions Instead he grows by surrendering his self to art A poet s maturity comes through knowledge discipline and awareness of tradition Historical Awareness A poet meets maturity when he develops what Eliot calls the historical sense It means he must feel both the pastness of the past and its presence Eliot says that the poet must realize that all literature from Homer to the present exists together as a simultaneous order This awareness connects him with all the great writers of the past Without this sense a poet remains limited by his time and personal feeling Self-Sacrifice Eliot clearly says The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice a continual