The theory of impersonality is given by T.S Eliot in his essay Tradition and Individual Talent . It is one of the important essays and influential essays ever written in the modern period that influenced the other emerging theories like New Criticism. The essay serves an an important piece for the theory of New Criticism and sometimes Eliot is considered as the anticipator of New Criticism.
In the theory of Impersonality, the poetic development is the continuous subtraction and diminishing of poet’s personality and emotions. The poet’s personality and subjectivity is considered less important because a poet can only attain tradition / historical sense through objective sensibility. The poet can sharpened his tradition/ historical sense when he subtracts his own personality and emotions in his development of poetic composition. Eliot gives the scientific chemical process of a catalyst platinum under which in the chemical process of sulphurdioxide and oxygen gives sulphuric acid where the platinum do not undergo any change.
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He states that the mind of the poet should be the “shred of the platinum” which do not undergo any change and the mind of the poet should be like an apparatus to hold the chemical elements that will undergo fusion and certain developments in the process of a reaction. Similarly, Eliot suggests that the development of poetic creation should be synonymous to the chemical reaction where the chemical elements in the poetic composition is the tradition/historical sense which is amalgamated with the poet’s own personal experiences which Eliot states that “Impressions and experiences combine together in an unexpected ways”. The impressions are the elements taken from the past or the tradition/historical sense which is fused along with “experiences” of the poet in the present. Eliot also suggested that the mind of a poet has the ability to capture and store images, emotions, phrases which becomes the “impressions” taken from the past and the process of poetic development and composition begins within the mind itself fusing along with the personal experiences of the poet.
Eliot stresses that poetry is an “organization” rather than a mere “inspiration”. He is attacking against the Romantic ideology where they take inspiration from the nature and the objective world to compose poetry. Eliot states that a poetry is an organization where the elements of tradition/historical sense combines along with the poet’s personal emotions in the mind of the poet to create a work of art. The organization takes place in the mind of the poet and the new work of art is created. He attacks Wordsworth theory of “recollecting in tranquility” where there are no process of recollection that takes place inside the mind of the poet but rather forms an assemble or organization of tradition/historical sense along with the fusion of personal experiences of the poet.
Eliot further stretches about the problems with Romantic poets who were very much “unconscious” or impersonal when they are supposed to be “conscious” or personal and they are very much “conscious” or personal when they are supposed to be “unconscious” or impersonal. It means that the Romantic poets were taking the opposite road where they felt the need to be personal and express emotions in the poetry. Eliot suggests that a work of poetry is about “escaping from emotions” and “escaping from personality” where the emotions do not loose and ends like the Romantic poetry. When the poet is able to diminish his personal emotions from his poetic composition, then the criticism will be given upon the text itself and not on the poet. Critically, Eliot professes the idea of art for art’s sake where the text has its own life and should be able to exist without the presence of a writer.
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