T.S. Eliot's Theory / Process Of Impersonality In Literature

In his essay, “ Tradition and the individual Talent”, Eliot announces his famous theory of impersonality as well as defines ' tradition' afresh. For Eliot 'tradition' is not the dead past but the ever-present tradition, which influences every writer of the present. He defines 'historical sense' as that sense of writer which makes him fully conscious, not only of his own age but also of the great writers of the past. The more he matures in his writing the more does he feel the influence of tradition, that is , the past masters on his works. In this awareness of tradition which directs or guides his writing lies his recognition of tradition as a more valuable institution, than he, the individual writer. The individual writer modifies the tradition as much as he is informed by it