T. S. Eliot, Tradition and the Individual Talent

Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Ed. by Chris Baldick, Goldsmiths College, University of London
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Newman University), Louise McDonald (Newman University)

Dates

First circulation or publication Sep 1919

Places

England (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Commentary / Criticism (literary)
- Essay / Lecture (literary)

Resources

“Tradition and the Individual Talent” (1919) is an essay in poetics by the American-born poet-critic T. S. Eliot, and is widely regarded as his most important statement of literary principle. First published in two instalments (September and December 1919) in the London literary-philosophical magazine The Egoist, of which Eliot was assistant editor, it reappeared as a single thirteen-page essay in Eliot’s first prose book, The Sacred Wood (November 1920), providing the intellectual centrepiece of that collection. Its subsequent impact and reputation have been remarkable: it became the most discussed, quoted and reprinted literary essay in English of the twentieth century, an almost obligatory item in a…

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2030 words

Citation: Baldick, Chris. "Tradition and the Individual Talent". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 February 2021 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39124, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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