T. S. Eliot, Tradition and the Individual Talent

Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Ed. by Chris Baldick, Goldsmiths College, University of London
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

First circulation or publication Sep 1919

Places

England (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Commentary / Criticism (literary)
- Essay / Lecture (literary)

Resources

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“Tradition and the Individual Talent” (1919) is an essay in poetics by the American-born poet-critic T. S. Eliot, and is widely regarded as his most important statement of literary principle. First published in two instalments (September and December 1919) in the London literary-philosophical magazine

The Egoist

, of which Eliot was assistant editor, it reappeared as a single thirteen-page essay in Eliot’s first prose book,

The Sacred Wood

(November 1920), providing the intellectual centrepiece of that collection. Its subsequent impact and reputation have been remarkable: it became the most discussed, quoted and reprinted literary essay in English of the twentieth century, an almost obligatory item in anthologies of modern critical writing.

The subject of Eliot’s essay is, in its

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2030 words

Citation: Baldick, Chris. "Tradition and the Individual Talent". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 February 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39124, accessed 18 April 2024.]

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