Poetics

Q1: Discuss briefly Aristotle’s conception of tragedy?

Or

What is Aristotle’s conception of a perfect tragedy?

Or

What, according to Aristotle, are the requirements of a true tragedy?

Or

Aristotle speaks of the pleasure proper to tragedy. What is the nature and
source of this pleasure, according to Aristotle

Ans: According to Aristotle’s definition, the following are the requirements of tragedy:

1. Tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious complete and of a certain

magnitude.

2. Tragedy is written in language which is embellished with each kind of artistic

ornament the several kinds be found in separate parts of the play.

3. Tragedy is written in the form of action not of narrative. Narrative is employed in

epic; but tragedy has to be represented on the stage and must therefore be dramatic
in form.

4. By arousing the feelings of pity and fear,  tragedy effects the catharsis of these
emotions.

Tragedy is the imitation of an action. Now, action implies agents or doers, and so tragedy
requires charcters. Aristotle specifies following six parts of a tragedy: plot, charcter, diction,
thought, spectacle and song.Two of these parts (diction and song) constitute the medium of
imitation; one of the parts (spectacle) constitutes the manner of mode of imitation and
three parts (plot, character and thought) constitute the objects of imitation. The action in a
tragedy has to be complete, whole, and of a certain magnitude.A whole is that which  has a
beginning,middle and an end.

A well constructed  plot there for must neither begin  nor end in a haphazard manner.The
action in a tragedy must be of  a certain magnitude; but the magnitude should not be so
great as to make it impossible for the human mind or memory to  embrace it in one view.
The sequence of  events should be so managed  and to confirm to the law of probability or
necessity.Another point on which Aristotle insists is that sequence of events should follow
the law of probability for necessity.

The Plot Required

The episodic plots according to him are the worst. An episodic plot  is the one in which the
episodes or the events follow one another without probable or necessary sequence.The
events should follow one another as cause and effect. Aristotle  divides plots  into those
which are simple and those which are complex.  A plot is simple when the change of Fortune
takes place without reversal of the situation and without recognition.A complex plot  is the
one in which the change of Fortune is  accompanied by reversal or by recognition or by
both. The reversal and the recognition should arrive from the internal structure of the
plot.Aristotle says that the dramatist should prefer probable impossibilities to improbable
possibilities.

Plot is discussed mainly by Aristotle in his book Poetics.This is because according to Aristotle
, plot is the soul of tragedy. It is logical too because if the plot is weak then that whole
tragedy will not be of any use to the people and it will not cause the catharsis of feelings,
moreover, it will also degrade and weaken the characters in the tragedy which means that
due to weak plot whole tragedy will suffer in every aspect.

According to Aristotle, the construction of the plot should be very logical and reasonable. A
plot can be logical and reasonable when there is a connection between every single event
and a reason for it. Similarly Aristotle also says that in plot, the events should not be
haphazard. There is no place for haphazard events in Aristotle’s plot as he says that every
event must be connected to a event before and after it. One other point which Aristotle
makes is that every plot must have a complete and proper beginning, ending and middle.

 The Characters

Those who justify Aristotle argue you that the distinction between plot and character is not
really necessary because plot presupposes character. There  can be  no plot without
characters  and no  character portrayal is possible without a plot.In a perfect tragedy both
the plot and characterization should be equally skillful and effective.The aim of a tragedy is
to give the audience a Peculiar kind of pleasure such as no other art and can give. In any
story, there must be people and they, as human beings, must have moral and intellectual
qualities. 

The Secret Pleasure:Catharsis

We now come to know  that kind of pleasure which the tragedy is expected to arouse in
us.According to Aristotle,  the pleasure  of  tragedy lies  in the catharsis which a tragedy
effects by arousing the feeling of Pity and fear. Aristotle never discussed or explain what
catharsis mean.The most widely accepted interpretation of catharsis is to regard it as
purgation. It is a medical term, according to homeopathic system of medicine like cures like.
That is, a sick person is given doses of a medicine which if given to a healthy person will
make him ill. In the same way tragedy by arousing pity and terror, cures us of these very
feelings which always exist in our hearts and which lie dormant there.Tragedy affords
emotional relief so that the spectators rise at its end with a feeling of exhilaration and
pleasure.

The theory of Catharsis or purgation is only an approximation to the truth regarding the
pleasure of tragedy. A tragedy depicts scenes of suffering and misfortune; it represents the
hero, who is a good man though not perfect, falling from prosperity into adversity. It is
possible that unconsciously or sub-consciously we get the feeling that we are not the only
sufferers in this world and that there are others who suffer even more than ourselves.
Another reason for our pleasure maybe that the spectacle of the heroe's endurance and
perseverance in the face of calamities and disasters proved to be a source of inspiration and
encouragement to us.

Q: Discuss Aristotle’s conception of imitation.

OR

Aristotle defines poetry and the other fine arts as modes of imitation. What does
he mean by this and how far do you agree with him?

Ans: According to Aristotle,  Epic poetry and tragedy, comedy, the music of the flute and of the
lyre, as well as dancing are all in general conception, modes of imitation.He adds that these arts
differ from one another in three respects, in respect of the medium of imitation, in respect of the
objects of imitation and in respect of the manner of imitation. Poetry is a mode of imitation which
employees language, Rhythm and harmony as it's medium of imitation. The object of imitation in
poetry are human beings and their actions.The manner of imitation in poetry may be dramatic or
narrative.

The Objects of Imitation

According to Aristotle, men in action for the object imitated in poetry.The word action here includes
everything that expresses the mental life of human beings and everything that is a rational
personality.In other words the source of material  for poetry is all that constitutes that in word and
essential activity of the mind and the soul.

Aristotle’s Reorientation of Plato’s Concept of Artistic Imitation

According to Plato, the poet or the painter holds up a mirror to material objects such as the earth,
the plants,the animals and mankind too; and he has catches a reflection of the world around him.
But the world around him is itself only a reflection of the world of ideas.According to Plato, then, the
artist's imitation is a reflection of a reflection or a copy of a copy, and this imitation is therefore
twice removed from the ideal world and from the ideal truth.

According to Aristotle the objects in this world are not an appearance or an illusion, but the primary
reality. If this material and visible world is the primary reality then the poet's or the painter's
imitation of it is not twice remove from reality. Poetry  and the fine arts are then to be regarded as
the manifestation of a higher truth.Thus the  illusions  which the fine arts employ do not cheat the
mind instead they embody the immanent idea which cannot find adequate expression under the
forms of material existence.

Plato’s Attack on Poetry and Aristotle’s Defence

Plato (228-348 B.C) was the most important literary critic before Aristotle. He marks the culmination
of a critical phase in the history of criticism in antiquity; he also inaugurates a new phase in critical
development.He attacked poetry on different grounds which are discussed below.

Moral Grounds

On moral grounds he attacks poetry and gives the following justifications for it:

1) Poetry is not conducive to social morality,as poets pander to the popular taste and
narrate tales of man’s pleasant vices.

2) Poet tells lies about gods. Gods and great heroes descended from the gods are
represented as corrupt, dishonest, indeed subject to all the faults and vices of common
humanity, even by Homer.They thus deprive public taste and morality and militate
against reverence for gods

Emotional Grounds

It is easier to imitate te lower or baser parts of the soul, i,e the passionate elements. Plato divide the
soul into three parts i.e rational, spirited and desirous. Hence it is that the poets, whether epic,
tragic or comic, abound in vulgar, the sensational and the corrupt. Poetry thus has a debilating
effect, it leads to the loss of balance, with feelings unrestricted by either reason or principle.

Intellectual Grounds

Plato attacks poetry on intellectual grounds as well: poets have no knowledge of truth or for they
imitate appearance and not the truth of things, illusions instead of reality.Poets like painters, imitate
the surface or the superficial aspects of things.The poets have no knowledge of reality;they simply
imitate the shadowy or the illuionary. Poetry is thus twice removed from the reality: it cannot be a
source of knowledge and truth.

His Condemnation of Poets

Thus Plato attacks poetry on intellectual, emotional and moral gounds, and demonstrates its
uselessness, and its corrupting influences. His point of view is entirely utilitarian. He ends his charges
aganist poetry by saying that in an ideal state, “no poetry should be admitted save hymns to the
gods and panegyrics on famous men.” The poets are to be honoured, but they must be banished.

Aristotle’s, Plato’s Similarities/Differences

Though Aristotle never refers directly to Plato, much of poetics is a covert reply to his great
master . Aristotle takes up Plato’s challenge and demonstrates the value and significance of
poetry in moulding the character of the individual.

Differences

Aristotle and Plato differ widely in their obejctives and methods of work:

1) Plato set out to re-organise human life; Aristotle to re-organise human knowledge

2) Plato was a transcendentalist and had the temperament of an artist; Aristotle a scientist, a
biological, an experimentalist, who arrived at his principles through the observation and
analysis.

3) Plato was an idealist. He believed that the phenomenal world is but an objectification of the
ideal world. The ideal world is real; the phenomenal world is but a shadow of this ideal
reality. It is therefore fleeting and unreal. Aristotle, on the hand, believed in the reality of
the world of the senses. The world is real, and it must form the basis of any scientific or
systematic study. It is on the basis of the study and observation of particular realities that
general principles can be induced.

4) Plato’s language is poetic and charming; that of Aristotle is dogmatic, telegraphic. It is the
language of private, personal notes of an intelligent teacher rather than that of a finished
product.

5) Aristotle makes full use of the terminology and doctrines of Plato, develops or confutes
them and on the basis provided by them develops theories of his own. Plato was more
original genius; Aristotle more comprehensive and systematic.
 6) Plato was the first to use the word ‘imitation’ in connection with poetry; Aristotle took the
word from his master and breathed a new life and soul into it.

7) Plato likened poetry to painting: Aristotle likened it to music..

8) In Plato’s view, poetry presents a copy of nature as it is; according to Aristotle, poetry may
imitate men as they are, or better and worse.

Ideal Tragic Hero

Along with the plot, the character of ideal tragic hero is of great importance, it through this ideal
tragic hero that the feelings of pity and fear are aroused i.e catharsis. Now a question arises that
how should be an ideal tragic hero?. According to Aristotle, an ideal tragic hero should be a man of
eminence and the actions of an eminent man would be serious, complete and of certain magnitude.
By serious it means that the actions of an ideal tragic hero should not be juvenile or comedy rather
they should be serious depicting a serious situation, by complete means that these actions should
not be haphazard and incomplete rather they should have a proper ending and beginning side by
side with the rise and fall in plot of the tragedy.

Aristotle then says that an ideal tragic hero should have all the qualities of a good
character.According to Aristotle a good character have these qualities:

True to life

It means that a good character should be life like and humans. He should not be a beast or alien or
anything else but he should be like us humans.

True to Self

A good character must good qualities like honesty, integrity etc. He should not be dishonest or a
deceiver.

True to Role

A good character should be according to the role its playing. If the character is a king, he should be
dressed up like king and he should have all the characteristics of king e.g his gestures etc. Similarly if
he is assigned any other role his everything should be according to that personality.

Aristotle specifies certain limits for an ideal tragic hero. He says that there are three types of people
in this world, pure virtuous, purely wicked and ordinary people like us. He says that the purely
virtuous people cannot be an ideal tragic hero because they will never comit mistakes which would
be the reasons for his downfall, morever, he says the purely wicked people cannot be ideal tragic
hero because they have no chance of becoming good. He says that ideal tragic hero should be a
common man like us who comit mistakes and sins as well as good deeds and only then he will be
able to arouse the feelings of pity and fear among audience.

Q: Who was Longinus?

Ans: Longinus is one of the greatest Greek critics. His position is only next to Aristotle. His 'On the
Sublime' is an immortal critical document of great worth and significance. It deals with the principle
of sublimity in the world of writing.He was the first European Critic who emphasised the importance
of style. He made the use of both the historical and comparative methods in literary criticism.In
regard to his contribution the critics are divided in their opinions. Scott James hails him as the first
romantic critic whereas prof. Atkins admires him as a great classical critic. In fact, Longinus is a
classicist in taste, romantic in temper and an idealist at heart. He anticipated much that is modern in
critical world.It is the echo of great soul.

Q: What is sublimity and its sources?

Ans: Sublimity

Sublimity is a certain loftiness, distinction and consummation of excellence in language, expression

and composition. It is the echo of a great soul. It raises style above the ordinary. Some persons are of
the view that sublimity is a gift of nature. They think that it has nothing to do with art.But one should
not forget that nature needs the help of art to control its wild impulses. In fact, both nature and art
contribute to sublimity in literature. According to Longinus, 'Art is perfect when it seems to be
nature, and nature hits the mark when she contains art hidden within her'.

Sources

According to Longinus there are five principal sources of the sublime. These sources are -

[1] Grandeur of thought;

[2] Strong emotion;

[3] The use of figures;

[4] Noble diction;

[5] Dignified composition.

The 'grandeur of thought' and 'strong emotion' is inborn gifts of nature. The rest three sources are
the gifts of art.
GRANDEUR OF THOUGHT

'Grandeur of thought' is one of the principal sources of the sublime. It is largely the gift of nature. It
is essential for a sublime work. Men with mean and servile ideas can't attain sublimity. In fact, great
thoughts spring from great souls. In short, it is the echo of a great soul. In the words of Longinus
'their words are full of sublimity whose thoughts are full of majesty'. Sublimity demands skilful
selection and organisation of material. Details should be so chosen as to form an organic whole. The
imitation is also one of the significant paths, which lead to sublimity.It is essential for sublimity as
men with mean ideas cannot attain sublimity. This element of sublimity can be reinforced by
Longinus own words ‘’their words are full of sublimity whose thoughts are full of majesty’’. This
grandeur thought is not permanent ability and it can deteriorate or wither away with time.

STRONG EMOTION

Strong and inspired passion is the second significant source of the sublime. The vigorous treatment
of it is essential for acquiring sublimity.Strong emotion is an inborn gift of a genius. According to
Longinus nothing makes so much for grandeur as true emotion in the right place. But the subject of
emotion has not been dealt with in detail.

THE USE OF FIGURES

The use of figures is the third principal source of the sublime. It can be acquired by art. It helps in the
creation of the sublime. Figures of speech should be used in a natural manner.They should be
employed in the right place, on the right occasion, in the right manner and with a right motive. Only
such use strengthens the sublime and the sublime supports it. The chief figures like the rhetorical
questions; adjuration, asyndeton, hyperbaton, periphrasis, anaphora, diatyposis and polyptota
contribute much to the sublime and add greatly to the beauty of language.

NOBLE DICTION

It is also a very important source of the sublime. It includes choice of proper words and the use of
metaphors and ornamental language. The choice of proper and striking words is essential for
producing sublimity.Longinus is of the view that beautiful words are the very light of lofty thought.
Trivial subjects should not be treated in a grand manner. It means that inappropriate magnificence
of diction should be avoided. The use of metaphors also contributes a great deal to the sublime.

DIGNIFIED COMPOSION

Dignified composition or the harmonious arrangement of words is the fifth source of the sublime. It
is a great source of persuasion as well as pleasure. It makes the reader or hearer share the emotion
of the speaker.It is the sense of harmony that gives charm and organic unity to a word of art. The
lack of harmony spoils dignity and elevation and gives the composition an appearance of meanness.

Wordsworth’s Preface
Q1: Preface to Lyrical Ballad.
Ans: The preface to lyrical ballads has with the passage of time assume the position
of abiding importance and significance in the history of English literature.
Wordsworth made number of provisions in it over several years.The lyrical ballads
came first in 1798, accompanied by a short advertisement or foreword, in which
Wordsworth had set for the main points of his argument. He had said that the poems
were in an experiment, written to find out if his themes of common life are suitable for
poetry. A more elaborate preface was added to the 1800 edition of the lyrical ballads,
which also contain many new poems. The preface was enlarged and improved for
the addition of the poems brought out in 1802. The most significant addition to this is
preface was an account of the nature and function of a poet. The poet is declared to
be superior to the man science. The nature of poetic pleasure is also considered.

Q1: Who is the poet?

Ans: According to Wordsworth, "A poet is a man speaking to men, endowed with more
lively sensibility" and he also say that the poet is such a human being who is overall in
degree a far better human being than ordinary human being. He has a greater knowledge of
human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than one supposed to be common among
mankind. He is a man pleased with his own passions and volitions, and who rejoices more
than other men in the spirit of life that is in him; delighting to contemplate similar volitions
and passions as manifested in the going-on of the universe, and habitually compelled to
create them where he does not find them. Wordsworth believes the poet possesses the
qualities of the greatest entity in the history of world: the human being, but for
Wordsworth, the poet’s human qualities are much greater than the qualities possessed by
most human beings. A poet, then, is a person, but more so than other people who aren’t
poets. Wordsworth defines a poet as a man of more comprehensive soul. A poet is different
from other men, because he/she has a more lively sensibility. And his emotions and
passions are more enthusiastic, tendered and more powerful. He has a greater knowledge
of human nature. The poet is a man speaking to men. But the poet is not only a social
instrument but an individual, pleased with his own passions and volitions. The poet has a
greater degree of imaginative power than other men, a power of looking from heaven to
earth and earth to heaven.
The insight of the poet is higher than other people. That is why, a poet can create new ideas
and present them to us with images and symbols. The poet’s curiosity and interest in life is
intense. Therefore, the poet depicts human life in different ways. His responsibility is great
because, what other people can’t think or see, he is to present the incredible and invisible
images to the readers. Other people also feel and think that but they don’t have the
diversity of their sense perception as the poet has, that is why, the poet’s soul is very
powerful and creative. The poet must have the knowledge of human life and human society
because his main study is man society. The poet seeks the truth about life and nature. His
main purpose is to give pleasure by painting out the different branches of knowledge of this
vast universe.
The poet creates characters and the characters are the spokesmen of his ideas.
Wordsworth’s idea about the poet is romantic ad democratic. He says that the poet
shouldn’t live in a lofty height. Rather he must be one of the common human beings. He
should feel what others feel and accordingly he should describe the common feelings and
passions. Like the scientist or any other creative man the poet rejoices over his own
invention because the purpose of all inventions and discoveries is to give pleasure. The poet
also describes the real incidents that we are facing daily. Moreover, by the power of his
creative imagination, the poet creates significant images to sharp our senses ad sensibilities,
and to enhance our knowledge about life.

Q2: Function of poetry.

Ans: Poetry should express common human feelings and there should be no
restriction in the expression of the experiences of the senses and sensibilities.
Wordsworth defines poetry as the spontaneous overflow of the powerful feelings. It is
the poet’s business to embody in their poetry the general passions of men.
Wordsworth avoids the use of personifications of abstract ideas and serious diction
in his poems so far as possible for making poetry intelligible to all types of readers.
The language of his poetry is near to that of prose. The incidents of life, the natural
objects around us and the common feelings of men as well as our sorrows and
happiness, failure and success should get a ready appeal in poetry without false
description. Wordsworth says that the function of poetry is to give pleasure to
readers by presenting the incidents and situations of their lives in a fascinating and
unusual way with a color of imagination. Therefore Wordsworth agrees with Aristotle,
“Poetry is the most philosophical of all writings. The subject of poetry is general and
operative truth which is its own testimony.” According to J. C. Smith, an eminent
critic, “The nature of poetry will appear more clearly when we have considered its
end or purpose, or the function of the poet in a civil society.”
Wordsworth is emphatic about the function of poetry being that of giving
pleasure: Poetry is a communication of the poet’s own pleasure, Indeed, he favours
the addition of metre to poetry, primarily it is conducive to pleasure. At the same
time, however Wordsworth does not ignore the exalted nature of poetry. Poetry is a
serious affair, and poetic pleasure is not idle amusement. The pleasure of poetry
involves increased knowledge and better understanding.

Q3: Process of poetic creations.

Ans: Phrases such as spontaneous overflow powerful feelings and emotions

recollected in tranquility have almost  attend the nature of cliches. They are used
without relevance to their contexts and are naturally misunderstood. These words
are related to the wordsworth  concept of poetry and poetic process they should not
be considered in isolation.

“All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

This statement should not be taken in literal sense it does not mean that a poet
simply expresses his feelings and emotions in an uncontrolled manner. The process
involved intense mental activity as well the poet is a man who had also thought long
and deeply. Thus  the poetic process begins with the contemplation of some
emotional experience of the past. Gradually, excitement  is aroused in the mind of
the poet, so that poet seems to be almost re-experience in the original emotion. But
a crucial word here is kindred which means that the emotion is not exactly the same,
but is kindred to the original emotion experienced. It is different because it has been
increased by thought. The original experience has been understood and evaluated.
The emotion around through contemplation is modified; there has been an
interaction between thought and emotion, the conscious and the unconscious
aspects. Gradually the emotion is recreated in the mind of the poet, and is ready to
flow out into composition. It is necessary to note that the term spontaneous seems to
imply both that the shaping process of the poem cannot begin at will and that once it
has begun, it is to some extent self-directing. It does not mean that the poet active
intellectual faculty is switched off when the spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings occurs. The intelligence of the poet is all the time taking an active part in the
creation of poetry and it helps in the selection and composition.Herbert Read
explains that good poetry is never an immediate reaction to the poetic cause our
sensations must be allowed to go back to the common fund of our experience and
find their level and dew proportion. That level is found for them by the mind in the act
of contemplation, and then in the union of contemplative mind and receiving
sensibility Rises that unit mode of expression which we call poetry. As far as
Wordsworth practice of his percepts is concerned one can only say that he does
Indeed follow the above. Process, In some of his compositions at least of course, he
does not follow it in all cases. 

Q1: What does T.S Eliot say about Tradition and Invidual Talent?

Ans: Tradition and Indivdual Talent is an essay by the poet and literary critic T.S
Eliot. The essay was first published in "The Egoist" in 1919 and later in the book of
T.S Eliot "The Sacred Wood". Tradition and individual talent is one of the most well
known work of Eliot that he  produced in his critic capacity. It formulates Eliot's
influential conception of the relationship between the poet and the literary tradition
which proceeds  him. This essay is divided into three parts:

1) the concept of "Tradition

2)  the Theory of Impersonal Poetry
3) the conclusion.
Eliot represents his conception of tradition and the definition of the poet and poetry in
relation to it. Eliot posits that, though the English tradition generally upholds the
belief that art progresses through change – a separation from tradition, literary
advancements are instead recognized only when they conform to the tradition. Eliot,
a classicist, felt that the true incorporation of tradition into literature was
unrecognized, that tradition was actually a thus-far unrealized element of literary
criticism.
 According to T S Eliot  the word tradition has a special and complex character. It
represents "simultaneous order"  by which T S Eliot means a  historical timeless i.e
a  fusion of past and present and at the same time a sense of present  temporarily. A
poet must embody " the whole of literature of Europe from Homer, while,
simultaneously, expressing their contemporary environment. Eliot challenges the
common perception that a poet's greatness and individuality lie in their departure
from their predecessors; he argues that "the most individual parts of his [the poet's]
work may be those in which the dead poets, his ancestors, assert their immortality
most vigorously." Eliot claims that this "historical sense" is not only a resemblance to
traditional works but an awareness and understanding of their relation to his poetry.
Eliot has a much more dynamic and progressive conception of the poetic process:
novelty is possible only through tapping into tradition.
When a poet engages in the creation of new work, they realist an aesthetic "ideal
order," as it has been established by the literary tradition that has come before them.
As such, the act of artistic creation does not take place in a vacuum. The introduction
of a new work alters the cohesion of this existing order, and causes a readjustment
of the old to accommodate the new. The inclusion of the new work alters the way in
which the past is seen; elements of the past that are noted and realized. In Eliot’s
own words, "What happens when a new work of art is created is something that
happens simultaneously to all the works of art that preceded it." Eliot refers to this
organic tradition, this developing canon, as the "mind of Europe." The private mind is
subsumed by this more massive one.This leads to Eliot’s so-called "Impersonal
Theory" of poetry. Since the poet engages in a "continual surrender of himself" to the
vast order of tradition, artistic creation is a process of depersonalisation. The mature
poet is viewed as a medium, through which tradition is channeled and elaborated.
They compare the poet to a catalyst in a chemical reaction, in which the reactants
are feelings and emotions that are synthesized to create an artistic image that
captures and relays these same feelings and emotions. While the mind of the poet is
necessary for the production, it emerges unaffected by the process. The artist stores
feelings and emotions and properly unites them into a specific combination, which is
the artistic product. What lends greatness to a work of art are not the feelings and
emotions themselves, but the nature of the artistic process by which they
are synthesized. The artist is responsible for creating "the pressure, so to speak,
under which the fusion takes place." And, it is the intensity of fusion that renders art
great. In this view, Eliot rejects the theory that art expresses metaphysical unity in
the soul of the poet. The poet is a depersonalized vessel, a mere medium.Great
works do not express the personal emotion of the poet. The poet does not reveal
their own unique and novel emotions, but rather, by drawing on ordinary ones and
channelling them through the intensity of poetry, they express feelings that surpass,
altogether, experienced emotion. This is what Eliot intends when he discusses
poetry as an "escape from emotion." Since successful poetry is impersonal and,
therefore, exists independent of its poet, it outlives the poet and can incorporate into
the timeless "ideal order" of the "living" literary tradition
The implications here separate Eliot's idea of talent from the conventional
definition that he chooses never to directly label it as talent. Whereas the
conventional definition of talent, especially in the arts, is a genius that one is born
with. Not so for Eliot. Instead, talent is acquired through a careful study of poetry,
claiming that Tradition, "cannot be inherited, and if you want it, you must obtain it by
great labour." Eliot asserts that it is absolutely necessary for the poet to study, to
have an understanding of the poets before them, and to be well versed enough that
they can understand and incorporate the "mind of Europe" into their poetry. But the
poet's study is unique – it is knowledge that "does not encroach," and that does not
"deaden or pervert poetic sensibility." It is, to put it most simply, a poetic knowledge
– knowledge observed through a poetic lens. This ideal implies that knowledge
gleaned by a poet is not knowledge of facts, but knowledge which leads to a greater
understanding of the mind of Europe.

Conclusion
According to T.S Eliot, the emotion of an art is impersonal and the poet cannot reach
this impersonality without surrendering wholy to the work to be done and he is not
likely to know what is to be done unless he lives in what is not merely the present but
the present moment of the past unless he is conscious.