370. DSC 301: Tradition and Individual Talent

1. Discuss Eliot's assimilation of individual talent of a poet with tradition.

2. What view of literary merit does Eliot seem to be arguing against? What does he propose as an alternative?

3. What does he mean by "tradition"? How can we tell what is traditional? What relationship should the writer have to the writings of the past?

4. Does Eliot believe that art is progressive? If not, how does it change? What limitations should the writer avoid in his use of the past?

5. What kind of art does Eliot seem to admire? What may be inferred from the fact that all the examples chosen are poetry?

6. What are the qualities of Eliot's style? What may be some reasons for the longstanding influence of his essays?

7. What context may be suggested for Eliot's views by the fact that he was an American expatriate in England who published this essay in 1919?

8. Are there any implications to Eliot's repeated use of "he" to describe the poet, or is this just common practice? What effect might gender bias have on a critic dealing with topics of tradition and impersonality?

9. Which aspects of Eliot's views may have influenced the generations of critics which followed him?

10. What does Eliot say about historical sense in "Tradition and Individual Talent"?