Tradition and the Individual Talent

Essay | T. S. Eliot
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What is ‘positive tradition’?

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What is ‘positive tradition’? [2020]

T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) is a remarkable modern poet.  His famous essay, “Tradition and the Individual Talent” (1919), gives a new and positive meaning to the word “tradition.” Many people think that tradition means blind imitation of the past, but Eliot rejects this idea. He says that real or positive tradition is a living process that joins the past and the present in a single order of art.

Historical Awareness: Positive tradition begins with the poet’s “historical sense.” It is the feeling that the past is not dead but still alive in the present. Eliot 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 a poet must study and understand the works of earlier writers with deep effort. When a poet develops this sense, he writes with awareness of both time and timelessness. 

Relation Between Old and New: Positive tradition is not blind obedience to the past. Eliot says that no poet can be valued alone because his work must be judged among the dead poets. He writes, 

“You cannot value him alone; you must set him, for contrast and comparison, among the dead.” 

This shows that a new poem changes the old order slightly, and the old order also influences the new poem. 

Creative Continuity: In positive tradition, the poet neither rejects the past nor repeats it. He learns from earlier poets but expresses his own individuality through them. He accepts the structure of tradition but adds something original to it. In this way, positive tradition becomes a bridge between experience and creativity.

In short, Positive tradition is the harmony between the old and the new. It demands historical knowledge, creative power, and self-discipline. 

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