Why does Eliot object against Wordsworth’s theory

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Why does Eliot object against Wordsworth s theory of emotion recollected in tranquility As the st generation romantic poet William Wordsworth - possesses the romantic idea of emotion However the modern classicist critic and poet T S Eliot - disagrees with this idea Eliot in his essay Tradition and the Individual Talent says that poetry is not emotional recollection but a result of artistic control and impersonal creation Inexact Formula Eliot calls Wordsworth s view an inexact formula He says poetry is not made by remembering emotion in a calm state It is in truth a concentration of a very great number of experiences These experiences unite unconsciously to create a new poetic emotion They are not remembered deliberately The poet s mind collects many feelings and images which mix and form art Thus poetry is not emotion recollected but emotion transformed Impersonal Process Eliot believes that poetry must be

free from personal emotion He writes Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion but an escape from emotion The poet s personal life or feelings are not important The poet s mind works like a chemical catalyst It helps combine emotions but stays unaffected itself Conscious and Unconscious Balance Eliot also says that the poet must use both his conscious and unconscious mind rightly A bad poet is unconscious where he ought to be conscious Poetry needs skill not uncontrolled passion It must express general feelings in a new way not strange emotions In short Eliot objects to Wordsworth s theory because it makes poetry too personal For him poetry is the product of intellect tradition and artistic discipline It is emotion made universal not emotion remembered

The Tempest

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Why does Eliot object against Wordsworth’s theory

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