"One significant, consistent and developing personality": A Study of T.S. Eliot's Criticism

Abstract

<p>When we move chronologically through T.S. Eliot's critical writings from 1917 into the 1960's we realize that he has been done a disservice by a number of critics writing about his prose. Although he produced criticism prolifically for almost fifty years, many critical commentaries center on, rely upon, one essay: "Tradition and the Individual Talent". Indeed much criticism relies not even upon the entire essay, but upon a few phrases; as if this narrow selectivity were not dangerous enough, even the phrases themselves are often considered out of context. The result is a group of critical writings and observations often remote from and strangely unrepresentative of Eliot's actual creative and critical stance. The~e few phrases are not only used to represent the backbone of many critical discussions of Eliot, but they are sometimes used against him in critical comparisons of his early and late prose. An overview of Eliot's critical essays from-1917 through to the 1960's is necessary to ensure a more just account of his creative and critical beliefs. Critical preoccupation with terms such as "tradition", "impersonal" or "depersonalized poetry" has also obscured Eliot's important assertions about the benefit of the creative process to its creator. These assertions, scattered throughout the body of Eliot's essays, are useful tools in the elucidation of his own creative works. Such an overview of Eliot's critical essays from 1917 to 1962 holds three goals. First, accusations of critical inconsistency or impracticality within Eliot's essays (accusations coming from other critics) must be addressed. An accurate account of Eliot's central creative and critical assertions through the years must then be presented. Finally, these creative and critical principles must be given practical application to determine their usefulness.</p>