The Reflection of the Victorian age in ''Oliver Twist''.

Topic: The Reflection of the Victorian age in ‘‘Oliver Twist’’.

Name: Baraiya Sonal Rameshbhai.

Class: M.A.Sem- 2.

Subject: The Victorian Literature.

Guidence: Heenaba Zala.

Submitted To: Smt.S.B.Gardi

                            Department of English.

                            M.K.Bhavnagar University.

     

Reflection of the Victorian Age in ‘‘Oliver Twist’’.

Introduction of the writer:

CHARLES DICKENS (1812 – 70):

    

 Dickens was born near Portsea, where his father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. Charles, the second of eight children, was a delicate child, and much of his boyhood was spent at home, where he read the novels of Smollett, Fielding, and Le Sage. The works of these writers were to influence his own novels very deeply. At an early age also he became very fond of the theater, a fondness that remained with him all his life, and affected his novels to a great extent.

                The Pickwick Papers was a great success; Dickens’s fame was secure, and the rest of his life was that of a busy and successful novelist. He lived to enjoy a reputation that was unexampled, surpassing even that of Scott; for the appeal of Dickens was wider and more searching than that of the Scottish novelist. He varied his work with much travelling-among other places to America (1842), to Italy (1844), to Switzerland (1846), and again to America (1867). His popularity was exploited in journalism, for he edited ‘‘The Daily News’’ (1846), and founded Household Words (1849) and All the Year Round (1859). In 1858 Dickens commenced his famous series of public readings. These were actings rather than readings, for he chose some of the most violent or affecting scenes from his novels and presented them with full-blown histrionic effect. The readings brought him much money, but they wore him down physically. They were also given in America, with the greatest success. He died in his favorite house, Gad’s Hill Place, near Rochester, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Introduction of the Victorian Era:

                    The Victorian period from the coronation of Queen Victoriain 1837 until her death in 1901 was an era of numerous disturbing social developments. During this period the writer were forced to write on the living issue of the society. Thus, it’s of literature of the Victorian era was directed to issues such as the growth of English democracy the education of the masses, the progress of industrial enterprise and rise of materialistic philosophy, and the problem of newly industrialized worked. Queen Victoria ruled England from 1837 to 1901. It was time when a fresh generation in literature had arisen as the earlier generation had nothing to add.

             It was an era of material prosperity, political consciousness, democratic reforms, industrial and mechanical process, and progress, scientific advancement, social unrest, educational expansion empire building and religious uncertainty. This Victorian age made progress in the field of poetry, prose and fiction.

             It was an era of political peace and prosperity. The Victorian age was remarkable in terms of industrial revolution and its outcome in that context. There were a few colonial wars during this period but they did not have any adverse effect on the national life. In the early period of eighteenth century, the effect of French revolution was still there but by the middle of eighteenth century England was completely safe from any expansion. They made remarkable progress in industrial, commercial, and social life. In short it was an era of total safety and security under the reign of Queen Victoria.        

Social characteristics:

                       

(1)            Industrial Revolution:

                         Political peace and prosperity brought an immense material advancement and industrial progress it gave birth to industrial economy in England. Many miles and factories were established across the country. Industrial advancement also produced social disordered and economic sorrow in the society. On the one hand the industrial revolution brought the rich class of the mile owner and the capitalist, on the other hand it brought the poor class of labors and factory works. The life of the poor became horrible a wave of social unrest was blowing in England and it found expression in the works of the writer like Charles Dickens, Ruskin, Thomas Carlyle and Matthew Arnold, John Stuart Mill, etc,.

        For novel ‘‘Oliver Twist’’, we can say that it is presented by Charles Dickens because of the effect of the industrial revolution. Charles Dickens, who was a lifelong champion of the poor, addresses these central issues in his early novel and timeless masterpiece Oliver Twist (1838). Child labor played an important role in the industrial revolution. In point of fact, the Victorian Era was characterized by the use of children to help develop the economy. Child laborers received less than the essentials needed at home, school, and at work. In a nutshell, the life of a young worker was in essence the life of a slave. Many children worked 16-hour days under atrocious conditions, as did their parents. As more people commuted to town to work, the demand for clothes and food grew. There were more things needed as the cities grew. More and more machines were beings built in factories and with that, the companies needed cheap labor. In Oliver twist, Charles Dickens describes some issues that occurred during the industrial revolution: children of the poor were forced by economic conditions to work, some kids were used as commodities, and there was a great difference between the first, middle, and third classes. Some parents sent their kids to work because they did not have enough money to support their family. Kids were being paid 3s a week. If there were no work available at the factory kids would just go back to the farm, or others would end up going on the streets and becoming prostitutes. Most prostitutes were between the ages of 15 and 22 years old during the industrial revolution. In Oliver Twist, the character Nancy is prostitute. She had no education and the only means of getting money was if she was on the street. Dickens was showing the times of the industrial revolution, and through this, the story seems very real. During the industrial revolution, kids were used as possessions. In the beginning of the novel, Oliver is used to pike oakum. He lives in an orphanage where the kids are used as slaves. They were sold door to door to the right buyer. In chapter 3, Oliver’s future darkens when Mr. Gamfield, a chimney sweep, applies to take the boy. Mr. Gamfield cares so little about Oliver that he does not care if the chimney catches on fire, as long as Oliver does his job.In the workhouse children were treated just like an animal. In the workhouse Oliver treated as a slave not as a child and he was doing work out of his capacity though they not have good foods with both qualities and quantities.  That is why Oliver wants some more foods with the famous dialogue

‘‘Please sir, I want some more.’’

And because of that he punished badly by Mr. Bumble. In Victorian era rich people believed for poor people that they were lazy and needed to be punished. They were born for becoming slave. So in Oliver Twist people in workhouses were deliberately treated harshly and the workhouses for child were similar to prisons.

(2)        Birth of social reform:

              The unhappy and terrible conditions of labors, miners, debtors and prisoners court attention in the eyes of social reforms. As a result, there was the birth of the Reform Bills which arouse the democratic consciousness among the Victorian people this age witnessed a conflict between aristocracy and democracy.

         Dickens as a socialist who wants to reforms society. In Oliver Twist Dickens situated himself and his readers among some complex areas of the criminal law… He criticizes the poor laws of 1834. That is why he put Oliver Twist in both social and individual. Dickens wants to reform society that is why he used satire with the laughter. And laughter is not innocent it is used as a device. It is the expression of thoughts that society usually suppressed or forbade. In the Oliver Twist we laugh not on the character but on the circumstances and with the laughter the novel frustrates the readers.

           Here as a reader we laugh on the character Oliver Twist because Dickens as a socialist he wants us to laugh forcefully because we are responsible for all these things, we are failure to given shelter. It is Dickens’s dream of ‘ideal’ society and that is why he wrote this novel through the intention of the reforms the society.

(3)            Growth in Population:

                  There was an expentional grown in population during the Victorian age.  The population of Great Britain at that time of the first sensors in 1801 was about ten and half millions but by the end of 1901 it was about 37 millions.

           In the Victorian age because of the industrial revolution people were wants more and more money to live life perfectly. But they have not enough money to support their family. Therefore children were sending for work. If there were no work available at the factory kids would just go back to the farm, or others would end up going on the streets and becoming prostitutes. Most prostitutes were between the ages of 15 and 22 years old during the industrial revolution.That is the reason for the population. That is why we see huge number of children in Victorian era. In Oliver Twist Nancy, who was prostitute and we seemed that the huge number of the children in this and they wants to got money at anyhow for clothes and food grew. That is why Oliver Twist pick pocket for food grew.

(4)Scientific Development:

                    It was period of extra ordinary scientific thinking. Manyscientific devotees dedicated their time to popularize scientific works like Darwin’s‘‘Origin of Species’’ despite the progress of science people in general were still governed by religious and moral consideration because Victorian were very religious at hart. There was a noticeable disagreement between religious and science and between moralist and scientist.

              Aristocratic people were rule over poor people through the power of both money and religious. They used these weapons to control poor people. For Example – Workhouse in Oliver Twist. In the workhouse children have food with the name of God though they not have good food with both quantities and qualities. ‘‘God is Good’’, ‘‘God is Love’’these label Dickens put in the workhouse in satirical way because when God is good then why all the children live in bad situation and why God not help them to live in better way.

(5)Domestic life and Social life:

           In domestic life emphasis was given on the/ to the authority or to the head of the family. The Victorian cultivated domestic virtues but women were considered as inferior to men. Education was not allowed to the women in general.

        Victorians laid emphasis on order decorum and decency. They were materialist by nature and did not care too much about the culture that they belonged to politically they were governed by narrow prejudices but intellectually they believed in progress. The Victorian compromise was observable in three branches of life such as -

1.    Political life,

2.    Religion,

3.   Science.

             In the Oliver Twist, there was also we seemed domestic life. In which Bill Sikes has power to control his wife Nancy. Nancy wants to help Oliver Twist but she can’t do this and that is why she doing all that things secretly. Nancy has no voice against her husband and at the climax her husband kills her without any mercy for her. So, we can say that she was not free to do whatever she wants to do. In social life they don’t like that they were called as cultural people.

Literary Characteristics –

(1)            The Uniqueness of Individuality:

                          It was a typical trait of Victorian Literature. The writers of this age were gifted with striking originality in outlook, method, style, viewpoint, character and temperamen. For Example –

Tennyson loved the admiration of strong independence. Bronte Sisters talked about loneliness in life. Thomas Carlyle and Robert Browning cultivated the manner of strangeness in writing. William Thackeray loved to follow a haphazard path in the conduct of his stories. CharlesDickens was one of the most original writers and a profound novelist of that age. His style and method is extraordinary, his viewpoint is towards reformation of the society, and his character was original just like Oliver Twistbecause he was reflection of the Victorian reality that children don’t like to becoming criminal but situation become them criminal. In between Oliver Twist is differentiating from other children because of his observation and decision is unique and that is why he was individual by his nature. And maybe that is why Mr. Brownlow’s decision towards Oliver Twist was soft.

(2)            Moral Writing:

                   The Victorian way of writing both in prose and poetry had a moral purpose behind it. Their way of writing and presenting the subject was full of moral attitude. The motive behind this kind of literature was to make their fellow countrymen idealist in nature. Dickens has same idea behind their writing novel ‘‘Oliver Twist’’. Dickens has set up his own moral dilemma in his novel. Oliver Twist portrays Dickens’s distaste for the justice system through satire and wit. For Dickens it seems that justice is based on truth and morality, which are symptoms of choice. Oliver’s choice is truth and that is why at the end he achieved good justice. Not only Oliver but in this novel we find out some character who are also believed in this mentality. For example –

Charley Bates, he has sense of personal moral conscience. He was an esteemed member of Fagin’s gang, famed for his skill in thieving pocket handkerchiefs. Despite his wicked talents, the evil deeds of others eventually turn him towards reform. Reform comes through his defiance if Sikes in chapter 50 as, though well versed in maintaining secrecy, he chooses to betray Sikes to the police. He calls to the people ‘to take him out for God’s sake’ (337), a desperate plea to the almighty which has so far been absent from the lives of the Juveniles in Fagin’s gang. Charley’s significance, as the symbol of a moral conscience, reflects Dickens’s view of morality as a product of personal choice rather than religious intervention.

  

Conclusion:

           In short, we can say that the novel ‘‘Oliver Twist’’ is the reflection of the Victorian period in various ways. And Dickens purpose behind this novel is to reforms the society. It is Dickens’s dream of ‘ideal society’. 

The Reflection of the Romantic age in Frankenstein.

Topic: The Reflection of the Romantic age in Frankenstein.

Name: Baraiya Sonal Rameshbhai.

Class: M.A.Sem-2.

Subject: The Romantic Literature.

Guidence: Heenabe Zala.

Submitted To: Smt. S. B. Gardi

                              Department of English.

                              M.K.Bhavnagar University. 

                          

The Reflection of the Romantic age in Frankenstein.

Introduction of the writer:

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley:

Born: 30 August 1797.

Died: 1 February 1851.

      She was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus (1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

        In 1816, the couple famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein. The last decade of her life was dogged by illness, probably caused by the brain tumour that was to kill her at the age of 53.

          Until the 1970s, Mary Shelley was known mainly for her efforts to publish P. B. Shelley’s works and for her novel Frankenstein, which remains widely read and has inspired many theatrical and film adaptations. Recent scholarship has yielded a more comprehensive view of Mary Shelley’s achievements. Scholars have shown increasing interest in her literary output, particularly in her novels, which include the historical novels Valperga (1823) and Perkin Warbeck (1830), the apocalyptic novel The Last Man (1826), and her final two novels, Lodor 1835 and Falkner (1837). Studies of her lesser known works such as the travel book Rambles in Germany and Italy (1844) and the biographical articles for Dionysius Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopaedia (1829 – 46) support the growing view that Mary Shelley remained a political radical throughout her life. Mary shelley’s works often argue that cooperation and sympathy, particularly as practiced by women in the family, were the ways to reform civil society. This view was a direct challenge to the individualistic Romantic ethos promoted by P. B. Shelley and the Enlightenment political theories articulated by her father, William Godwin. Here many of the main ideas behind the literary movement of Romanticism can be seen in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Mary Shelley was deeply influenced by the romantics, and the reader of Frankenstein can certainly identify a number of characteristics of romanticism in this novel.

Introduction of the Romantic Age:

               The Romantic Age is believed to have started as a movement, which began in 1798 with publication of Lyrical Ballads. However it was not a sudden outburst but the result of long and gradual growth and development.

Definition of Romanticism:

    Romanticism it is process which is endless.

    It is an 18^th and 19^th century movement that is      frequently characterized by the following:

    A depiction of emotion and imagination.

    A depiction of the beauties of nature.

    Settings that are in exotic or remote locations. Old castles or mansions frequently play a big role.

    A hero or heroine who rebels against the social norms of his or her society.

    An intense in nature and its beauty and/or fierceness.

    An interest in the irrational realms of dreams, folk superstitions, legends, and ghosts.

    Language and characters that are frequently marked by emotional intensity.

Other characteristics of Romantic Era are:

(1)        All Romantic Literature is subjective:

       It is an expression of the feelings of the soul of the artist. The poet and writer do not care about the rules and regulations but gives free expressions to his or her emotions. Emphasis was given to inspiration and the intuition rather than on the observance of set rules. As the poet and writer is free to write on any theme and any form he or she likes and as a result we have a wide variety of romantic literature as the poets and writers is driven by powerful passions and imaginations, he does not care for the perfection of form.

             Here Frankenstein is also subjective novel because here Mary Shelly art monster, it is her expression of the feelings that she art like that. Because what happen that in the romantic era that women have no rights to write. Because patriarchal society they have. So, her strong feeling rather her rebel against the patriarchal society and may be that is why she portrays the characters like that. In that era writer is free to write on any theme and any form he or she likes. Therefore she described the gender difference.

(2)        Mysticism and the beauty of universe:

                    The poets and writers were always interested in the mystery, beauty and unsigned power of nature. For them the imaginative world was more real than the real world.

                In the Frankenstein Mary Shelly portrayed some mysterical elements, love of the beauty of the nature and unsigned power of the nature. For example – We noticed in these below quotations love of the beauty of the nature.

                         ‘‘I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle; and may regulate a thousand celestial observations that require only this voyage to render their seeming eccentricities constant forever.’’ (pg – 10)

                          ‘‘I have often attributed my attachment to, my passionate enthusiasm for, the dangerous mysteries of the ocean, to that production of the most imaginative of modern poets.’’(pg – 15)

            It is Mary Shelly’s imaginative world and for her it is more real than the real. Because she gave the shape of the male as they are in reality.

(3)            The Pessimistic in Tone:

             The Romantic poet and writer his fisted individual the poet and writer may be dissatisfied with the circumstances of his own life, with this age with literary conventions and with the tradition of the day or with the general faith of humanity. There for Romantic literature is often pessimistic in tone. The Romantics revolted against the exciting condition and tried to escape into an imaginative world of their own. Therefore in Romantic literature we find the remote, the distant and the unknown delight.

           Mary Shelly looked pessimistic side of the humanity and may be because of that she became pessimistic by nature and as a result may be she wrote this work. It is her imaginative world because she inspired by her dream and then she wrote this novel. And dreams allow something to speak which is not normally present in the patriarchal course of things. In that era one of the pessimistic sides was that woman could not write and Mary Shelly dissatisfied with the circumstances. We also find in Frankenstein, desire to explore the unknown through such quotations like,

‘‘This breeze, which has traveled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my day dreams become more fervent and vivid.’’                                                    (Pg – 9)

(4)            Individualism:

         Another characteristic of the Romantic Era is Individualism. People were believed in individualism. In this period Rousseau confesses that

        ‘‘I am not made like anyone I have seen; I sdare believe that I am not made like anyone in existence. If I am not superior, at least I am different.’’

       We seemed in the Frankenstein they belief in the power of the individual. For example –

                                              ‘‘Six years have passed since I resolved on my present undertaking. I can, even now, remember the hour from which I dedicated myself to this great enterprise.’’(Pg – 10)

                           ‘‘…I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevated me to heaven; for nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose…’’(Pg – 10)

(5)            Treatment of the Nature:

                If for the moment we take the restricted meaning of the word, and understand by ‘nature’ the commonphenomena of earth, air, and sea, we find the poetic attitude to nature altering profoundly. In the work of Cowper, Crabbe, and Gray the treatment is principally the simple chronicle and sympathetic observation of nature features. In the new race of poets the observation becomes more mature and intimate. Notably in the case of Wordsworth, the feeling for nature rises to a passionate veneration that is love and religion too. To Wordsworth nature is not only a procession of seasons and seasonal fruition: it is the eye of all things, natural and supernatural, into which the observant soul can peer and behold the spirit that inhabits all things. Nature is thus amplified and glorified; it is to be sought, not only in the flowers and the fields, but also in

                          ‘‘The light of sitting sun,

                          And the round ocean and the living air,

And the blue sky, and in the mind of man.’’

                This stanza talked about not only the out of the nature but inner nature of the man is also described. Romantic literature not only deals with outer nature but it is also deals with the nature that is in the mind of man. Nature plays an important role in Frankenstein, although to the reader familiar with romantic poetry, it may seem that nature is somewhat less important or less central than the role it plays, for example, in the poetry of Percy Shelley, or in the romanticism examples of poetry of Wordsworth, and Coleridge. Nonetheless, from the novel’s opening, the importance of the reader getting a sense of physical place is established by situating the text within a particular environment, the qualities of which will both mirror and contradict the inner states of the main characters. Victor notes that the landscape of the Orkneys and that of his native country are quite distinct. His description of the Orkneys is cold, barren, gray, and rough. In contrast, he recalls Switzerland as colorful and lively. He describes the Swiss hills in true Romanticism form as covered with verdant vines and the landscape as teeming with blue lakes that reflect the brilliant blue sky. The final comparison that he draws is between the winds of each place. In Switzerland, the winds are ‘‘but…the play of a lively infant’’ (pg – 42), not the tormented sea squalls that batter the rock face of the Orkneys. It is symbolic, of course, that Victor has chosen such a barren place to create the companion for the creature. The contrast between two places is as stark and distinct as the difference between Frankenstein’s Creature and the human world. The creature occupies a world that is bleak, that is attacked on all sides by an unforgiving set of conditions. Victor, his family, and the De Lacys occupy a world that has beauty, even though each has had to deal with occasional harsh realities. These appropriate pairings of characters with their environments will be re-emphasized throughout the novel, and the physical qualities of the environments will provoke contemplative thought for most of the main characters, especially Victor and the creature.

          On a more symbolic level, Frankenstein is clearly a novel about romantic striving against the customary boundaries or limitations placed on our existence. First, there is the obvious example of Victor Frankenstein pushing against his limitations as a human being by striving to play a God-like role by making the creature. For Victor, it is not satisfying enough to simply study philosophy and science and proceed on to a respectable profession. He must perfect the role of the scientist by attempting to accomplish the impossible, a process which is inevitably frustrated, as it must be, by the fact that overstepping human boundaries has significant consequences. Shelley’s Frankenstein is not a mad scientist, as his character has been reduced to over the years, but a scientist who is passionate about the primary questions and preoccupations of his time.

          In his Romantic quest for a scientific ideal-the perfect human-he creates a monster, which then must be held in check by other systems and institutions that humans have also created. While these institutions are more concrete and based in reality than the creation of the monster, they are equally imperfect. This novel helps the reader understand that there is no such state as perfection. Furthermore, there is no social experiment, whether based in reality or in fantasy that will result in an ideal solution. Rather, human beings will always create imperfect institutions and inventions, and given this, must be prepared to accept responsibility and anticipate the potential consequences.

          Victor Frankenstein is not the only character to strive against and challenge traditional boundaries, however. The creature the Victor makes is engage in his own struggle to experience sublime connection with his environment and with other living beings. The creature makes multiple attempts to connect with other beings, especially before he realizes that he is different from them. Almost all of his efforts are in vain, however. The creature lacks speech and obvious physical characteristics that would make him more recognizable to human beings. The pain of his multiple rejections leads him to believe that, as explained in one of the important quotes from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, ‘‘The human senses are insurmountable barriers to our union…If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear…’’(Pg – 173). This decision signals the decline of all of the major characters, and foreshadows the novel’s terrible denouement. In a twist on the typical romantic text, which, if it does end happily, ends on a thoughtful, meditative note, this novel ends with the characters having effect no significant resolution amongst themselves. They have all realized the impossibility of striving against the roles to which they have been assigned in life, and they do not seem to be able to identify any other options for themselves.

       But here Mary Shelley treat nature in different way, she treat Nature v/s nature. Here Frankenstein wants to create Monster and it is against of the rule of the nature. And maybe that is why at the end of the novel he got nothing accepts tragic fact because too much exaggeration is always destroying.

Conclusion:

              Mary Shelley’s novel ‘‘Frankenstein’’ examines many social issues present during the Romantic Period. An analysis of its context reveals just how much it draws upon the Romantic dogma of the 1800’s and how Shelley attempts to warns us of the consequences of our fixation with omnipotence and our ventures into unrestrained scientific progress. Similarly Ridley Scott’s film ‘‘Blade Runner’’ presents a somber view of the earth’s future. It explores humanity’s dislocation from the nature world as a consequence of consumerism, greed and scientific progress.        

T.S.Eliot's Tradition and Individual Talent

Topic: T.S. Eliot’s Tradition and Individual Talent

Name: Baraiya Sonal R.

Class: M.A. Sem-2

Paper no.: 7 (Literary theory & Criticism)

Email Id: sonalbaraiya140@gmail.com

Guidance: Dr. Dilip Barad

Submitted to: Smt. S.B. Gardi

                          Department of English

                          M.K.Bhavnagar Uni.

‘‘Tradition and Individual Talent’’ – T.S.Eliot.

About T.S.Eliot:

                           With the possible exception of Yeats, no twentieth century poet has been held in such esteem by his fellow - poets as Eliot.

His Life:

Though he became a naturalized British subject in 1927, Eliot was born in St Louis, Missouri. His family was of Devonshire Origin, and its traditions were in commerce and academic studies. He entered Harvard in 1906, and, after one year at the Sorbonne in Paris, he spent a year at Oxford reading Greek philosophy. After a brief experience of teaching at Highgate School, he entered business, and spent eight years in Lloyd’s Bank in the city. At this time he was assistant editor of The Egoist (1917 – 19), and in 1923 began his career as editor of The Criterion.

                Among the many literary honours bestowed upon him mention may be made of: Charles Eliot Norton Professors of Poetry at Harvard (1932 – 33), President, Classical Association (1944), Nobel Prize for Literature (1948), and order of Merit (1948). At various times he received honorary degrees from twelve universities in Europe and America.  

T.S.Eliot with the idea of Tradition and Individual Talent:

INTRODUCTION:

T.S.Eliot’s ‘‘Tradition and Individual Talent’’ was published in 1919 in The Egoist – the Times Literary supplement. Later, the essay was published in The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism in 1920/2. This essay is described by David Lodge as the most celebrated critical essay in the English of the 20^th century. The essay is divided into three main sections:

v  The first is Eliot’s concept of tradition;

v  The second is his theory of depersonalization and poetry;

v In the third part he concludes the debate by saying that the poet’s sense of tradition and the impersonality of poetry are complementary things.

    According to Gareth Reeves – ‘‘Until the middle of the last century, Eliot’s idea of tradition was extraordinarily influential. His essay ‘Tradition and Individual Talent’ (1919) was a major contributor to Modernism’s rise and hegemony. The essay’s decline accompanied that of Modernism, and in the academy it suffered the fate of the abandoned lover: spurn and neglect. Like its author, it came to be regarded as conservative elitist, obsessed with order, and backward – looking. This was hardly surprising at a time when Modernism turned postmodernism, when plurality supplanted hierarchy, when the notion of a literary canon was under fire, when, indeed, what constituted literary studies was under intense scrutiny. To many, any idea of tradition came to seem irrelevant the chimera of a bygone age.’’

                    At the outset of the essay, Eliot asserts that the word ‘‘tradition’’ is not a very favourable term with the English who generally utilize the same as a term of censure. The English do not possess an orientation towards criticism as the French do, they praise a poet for those aspects of the work that are individualistic.

                 However, they fail to realize that the best and the most individual part of the poet’s work is that reflects maximum influence of writers of the past. Tradition does not imply a blind adherence to the literary tradition of the past tradition. This would amount to mere copying or slavish imitation.

                For Eliot, Tradition has a three – fold significance.

v Firstly, tradition cannot be inherited and involves a great deal of labour and erudition.

v Secondly, it involves the historical sense which involves apperception not only of the pastness of the past, but also of its presence.

v Thirdly, the historical sense enables a writer to write not only with his own generation in mind, but with a feeling that the whole of the literature from Homer down to the literature of his own country forms a continuous literary tradition.

As claimed by Chris Baldick that Eliot had created an inverted literary history in which history being second to the permanent quality of literature, is readjusted to accommodate it to literature. Therefore, Eliot’s conception of history is a dynamic one and not static; and is forever in a state of flux.

Part – 1

1)     In English literary criticism ‘‘Tradition’’ is used as a phrase of censure.

2)     Criticism is indispensable creative activity.

3)     The importance of ‘Tradition to Individual Talent’.

           Eliot says that the Englishmen have a tendency to insist, when they praise a poet, upon those aspects of his work in which he least resembles anyone else. In these aspects of his work they try to find out what is individual, what is the peculiar essence of that man. They try to find out the difference of the poet with his contemporaries and predecessors, especially with his immediate predecessors. They try to find out something that can be separated in order to be enjoyed.

           But if we study the poet without bias or prejudice, we shall often find that not only the best, but the most individual of his work may be those in which the dead poets, his ancestors, assert their impressionable period of adolescence but in the period of their full maturity. According to Eliot tradition and individual talent are not separate entity. They are inseparable and hence go together.

To him knowledge of tradition plays vital role in the development of personal talent. He writes, ‘‘Tradition is a matter of much wider significance. It cannot be inherited and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour. It involves the historical sense’’. This means: ‘‘the historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence; the historical sense compels a man to write not merely with his own generation in his bones, but with a feeling that the whole of the literature of Europe from Homer and within it the whole of the literature of his own country has a simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order. This historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional. And it is at the same time what makes a writer most acutely conscious of his place in time, of his contemporaneity.’’

               A creative artist, though he lives in a particular milieu, does not work merely with his own generation in view. He does not take his own age, or the literature of that period only as a separate identity, but acts with the conviction that in general the whole literature of the continent from the classical age of the Greeks onwards and in particular the literature of his own country, is to be taken as a harmonious whole. His own creative efforts are not apart from it but a part of it.

The close relationship and interdependence of the past and the present:

    Eliot gives importance to the interdependence of the past and the present. He finds not contradictory but supplementary elements in the co-relationship of the past and the present. He expresses his views as follows: ‘‘No poet no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists. You cannot value him alone; you must set him, for contrast and comparison, among the dead. I mean this as a principle of aesthetic, not merely historical criticism. The necessity that he shall conform, that he shall cohere, is not one-sided; what happens when a new work of art is created is something that happens simultaneously to all the works of art which preceded it. The existing monumeres form an ideal order among themselves, which is modified by the introduction of the new work of art among them. The existing order is complete before the new work arrives; for order to persist after the supervening of novelty, the whole existing order must be, if ever so slightly, altered; and so the relations, proportions, values of each work of art toward the whole are readjusted; and this is conformity between the old and the new. Whoever has approved this idea of order, of the form of European, of English Literature, will not find it preposterous that the past should be altered by the present as much as the present is directed by the past. And the poet who is aware of this will be aware of great difficulties and responsibilities.’

The relationship of a poet’s work to the great works of the past:

Eliot is of the view that the present work of art should not be judged by the standards of the past. The present work may or may not conform to the standards of the past, but it should not decide whether the work of art is good or bad. Eliot explains it as; ‘‘in a peculiar sense modern writer will be aware also that he must inevitably be judged by the standards of the past. I say judge, not amputated, by them; not judge to be as good as, or worse or better than, the dead; and certainly not judged by the canons of dead critics. It is a judgment, a comparison, in which two things are measured by each other. To conform merely would be for the new work not really to conform at all; it would not be new, and would therefore not be work of art. And we do not quite say that the new is more valuable because it fits in; but it’s fitting in is a test of its value-a test; it is true, which can only be slowly and cautiously applied, for we are none of us infallible judges of conformity. We say: it appears to conform, and is perhaps individual, or it appears individual, and may conform; but we are hardly likely to find that it is one and not the other.’’

Literature as Continuity:

   To be traditional in Eliot’s sense means to be conscious of the main current of art and poetry. The poem/poet must be very conscious of the main current, which does not at all flow invariably through the most distinguished reputations. He must be quite aware of the obvious fact that art never improves, but that the material of art is never quite the same. He writes: ‘‘the difference between the present and the past is that the conscious present is an awareness of the past in a way and to an extent which the past’s awareness of itself cannot show’’.

   Eliot covers the possible objection that his doctrine requires a ridiculous amount of erudition and that much learning deadens or perverts poetic sensibility. He says that there is a distinction between knowledge and pedantry. Some can absorb knowledge, the more tardy must sweat for it. Shakespeare acquired more essential histories upon is that the poet must develop or procure the consciousness of the past and that he should continue to develop this consciousness throughout his career.

Part - 2

His theory of Depersonalization:

    He starts the second part of his essay with: ‘‘Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry’’.

   The artist or the poet adopts the process of depersonalization, which is ‘‘a continual surrender of himself as he is at the moment to something which is more valuable. The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality.’’ There still remain to define this process of depersonalization and its relation to sense of tradition.

                       Eliot explains this by comparing it to a chemical process –

                    The analogy was that of the catalyst. When the two gases Oxygen and Sulphur dioxide, are mixed In the presence of a filament of Platinum, they Sulphurous acid. This combination takes place only if the Platinum is present; nevertheless the newly formed acid contains no trace of platinum, and the platinum itself is apparently unaffected; has remained inert, neutral, and unchanged. The mind of the poet is the shred of platinum. It may partly or exclusively operate upon the experience of the man himself; but, the more perfect the artist, the more completely separate in him will be the man who suffers and the mind which creates; the more perfectly will the mind digest and transmute the passions which are its material.’’

                The elements of the experience of the poet are of two kind – emotions and feelings. They are the elements which entering the presence of the poet’s mind and acting as a catalyst, go to the making of a work of art. The final effect produced by a work of art may be formed out of several emotions into one, it may be formed out of a single emotion or out of the feelings invoked in the poet by various words and images. Thus the poet’s mind is a receptacle for seizing and storing up numberless feelings, phrases, images, which remain there until all the particles, which can unite to form a new compound, are present together.

               Eliot explains his theory of depersonalization more elaborately. He elaborates his idea by saying that the emotions and experiences in the art are different than the emotions and experiences of the artist. He writes: ‘‘If you compare several representative passages of the greatest poetry you see how great the variety of types of combination is, and also how completely any semi-ethical criterion of ‘‘sublimity’’ misses the mark. For it is not the ‘‘greatest,’’ the intensity, of the emotions, the components, but the intensity of the artistic process, the pressure, so to speak, under which the fusion takes place, that counts.’’ He further writes: ‘‘the poet has, not a ‘‘personality’’ to express, but a particular medium, which is only a medium and not a personality, in which impressions and experiences combine in peculiar and unexpected ways. Impressions and experiences which are important for the man may take no place in the poetry, and those which become important in the poetry may play quite a negligible part in the man, the personality.’’

               It is not in his personal emotions, the emotions provoked by particular events in his life that the poet is in any way remarkable or interesting. His particular emotions may be simple, or crude, or flat. The emotion in his poetry will be a very complex thing, but not with the complexity of the emotions of people who have very complex or unusual emotions in life. One error, in fact, of eccentricity in poetry is to seek for new human emotions to express; and in this search for novelty in the wrong place it discovers the perverse. The business of the poet is not to find new emotions, but to use the ordinary ones and, in working them up into poetry, to express feelings which are not in actual emotions at all. And emotions which he has never experienced will serve his turn as well as those familiar to him. Consequently, we must believe that ‘‘emotion recollected in tranquility’’ is an inexact formula. For it is neither emotion, nor recollection, nor, without distortion of meaning, tranquility. 

       It is a concentration, and a new thing resulting from the concentration , of a very great number of experiences which to the practical and active person would not seem to be experiences at all; it is a concentration which does not happen consciously or of deliberation. These experiences are not ‘‘recollected,’’ and they finally unite in an atmosphere which is ‘‘tranquil’’ only in that it is a passive attending upon the event. Of course this is not quite the whole story. There is a great deal, in the writing of poetry, which must be conscious and deliberate. In fact, the bad poet is usually unconscious where he ought to be conscious and conscious where he ought to be unconscious. Both errors tend to make him ‘‘personal.’’ Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.

Part – 3

       In the last section of this essay, Eliot says that the poet’s sense of tradition and the impersonality of poetry are complementary things. Eliot writes: ‘‘to divert interest from the poet to the poetry is a laudable aim: for it would conduce to a juster estimation of actual poetry, good and bad.’’ Finally he ends his essay with: ‘‘very few know when there is expression of significant emotion, emotion which has its life in the poem and not in the history of the poet. The emotion of art is impersonal. And the poet cannot reach this impersonality without surrendering himself wholly 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, not of what is dead, but of what is already living.’’

Conclusion:

                       In short, we can say that Eliot’s idea of ‘Tradition and Individual Talent’ is similar with New Criticism. Unwittingly, Eliot inspired and informed the movement of New Criticism.  This is somewhat ironic, since he later criticized their excruciatingly detailed analysis of texts. Yet, he does share with them the same focus on the aesthetic and stylistic qualities of poetry, rather than on its ideological content. The New Critics resemble Eliot in their close analysis of particular passages and poems.