What does T.S. Eliot mean by the historical sense?

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What does T S Eliot mean by the historical sense The idea of historical sense is a creative and unique one in T S Eliot s - essay Tradition and the Individual Talent It is one of his most significant contributions to modern criticism By this term Eliot means a special awareness that connects the past with the present Awareness of Past and Present Eliot says that the historical sense makes a poet realize that the past is not dead It still lives in the present He writes Tradition is a matter of much wider significance It cannot be inherited and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour This means that tradition must be earned through study and effort A poet with the historical sense feels that all literature from Homer to his own time exists together Unity of Literature Eliot believes that the historical sense

makes a poet part of a living tradition He realizes that no poet has meaning alone Eliot says No poet no artist of any art has his complete meaning alone Every poet is judged in relation to past writers When a new work appears it changes the whole order of literature Critical Knowledge and Balance The historical sense also gives a poet critical power It helps him to know what to take from the past and what to leave He learns that blind imitation is useless He must develop knowledge taste and discipline The poet becomes mature only when he uses the wisdom of the past to express his own time In short Eliot s historical sense unites tradition and individuality It teaches poets to respect the past while creating the new This sense makes a poet conscious of his time and his duty to literature

Tradition and the Individual Talent

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What does T.S. Eliot mean by the historical sense?

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T. S. Eliot

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