Tradition and the Individual Talent (1919) best questions and answer

Tradition and the Individual Talent(1919) is an essay written by T. S. Eliot. In this article, you will get important questions and answers from Tradition and the Individual Talent.

Table of Contents

• Q1) WHAT IS “TRADITION” ACCORDING TO T.S. ELIOT FROM THE TEXT “TRADITION AND THE INDIVIDUAL TALENT”?
• Q2) WHAT IS THE PREVAILING NOTION ABOUT ‘TRADITION’ AMONG THE BRITISH PEOPLE?
• Q3) WHAT DOES T.S. ELIOT MEAN TO SAY IN THE CONTEXT OF ARCHAEOLOGY?
• Q4) WHAT DOES TS ELIOT SAY ABOUT THE CREATIVE AND CRITICAL TURN OF MIND?
• Q5) WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH IN THE TEXT ‘TRADITION AND THE INDIVIDUAL TALENT’?
• Q6) EXPLAIN THE LINE – “…CRITICISM IS AS INEVITABLE AS BREATHING”.
• Q7) WHAT IS ACCORDING TO T.S. ELIOT, THE TENDENCY OF THE READERS FOR PRAISING A POET?
• Q8) “IF WE APPROACH A POET WITHOUT THIS PREJUDICE…” – WHAT IS THIS PREJUDICE MENTIONED HERE?
• Q9) “WE SHALL OFTEN FIND THAT NOT ONLY THE BEST, BUT THE MOST INDIVIDUAL PARTS OF HIS WORK MAY BE THOSE IN WHICH THE DEAD POET, HIS ANCESTORS ASSERT THEIR IMMORTALITY MOST VIGOROUSLY” —EXPLAIN
• Q10) WHAT KIND OF TRADITION, ACCORDING TO TS ELIOT, SHOULD BE DISCOURAGED?

Q1) WHAT IS “TRADITION” ACCORDING TO T.S. ELIOT FROM THE TEXT “TRADITION AND THE INDIVIDUAL TALENT”?

ANS)According to TS ELIOT, in the text “TRADITION and the INDIVIDUAL TALENT” Eliot tries to make us understand that, tradition is something in which we can find the presence of old poems i.e., historical sense and as well as the individuality of the writers, who is writing the poems. So basically, TS Eliot wants us to understand that we need to get inspired by past writings and create our own writings with our own individuality and uniqueness in them as tradition has a much wider significance and we must obtain it with great labor.

Q2) WHAT IS THE PREVAILING NOTION ABOUT ‘TRADITION’ AMONG THE BRITISH PEOPLE?

ANS) From the text “TRADITION AND THE INDIVIDUAL TALENT” written by T.S. Eliot, we came to know about the prevailing notion of ‘Tradition’ among the British people is that people just talk about traditions only to show their absence rather than using it or applying it anywhere ”except archaeological reconstruction”. They say that tradition is missing in the text but they themselves do not know what exactly the ‘Tradition’ means. So, they say the adjective ‘Tradition’ but do not know the proper use of it.

Q3) WHAT DOES T.S. ELIOT MEAN TO SAY IN THE CONTEXT OF ARCHAEOLOGY?

ANS)From the text “Tradition and the Individual Talent” written by T.S. Eliot, we came to know that, Britishers only feel comfortable using the ‘tradition’ word in the context of archaeological research. They only use this word to criticize someone except the reassuring science of archaeology

Q4) WHAT DOES TS ELIOT SAY ABOUT THE CREATIVE AND CRITICAL TURN OF MIND?

ANS)According to TS Eliot, creative and critical turn of mind refers to the thinking capability of the BRITISH people, that is, they do not think as creatively as they think they are critically. Eliot, through this critical turn of mind, wants us to understand that thinking critically is not the main aim, but thinking creatively is the main thing as creativity will help people to develop their minds and create different ideas to grow in different aspects of life.

Q5) WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH IN THE TEXT ‘TRADITION AND THE INDIVIDUAL TALENT’?

Ans)According to TS Eliot, French people are more critical than English people and vice-verse English People are more spontaneous than French people (here spontaneous refer to English people who are continuously writing something creative but French people think so critically that they automatically consume their all the time in thinking leading to write really slow).

Q6) EXPLAIN THE LINE – “…CRITICISM IS AS INEVITABLE AS BREATHING”.

ANS)Through this line TS Eliot wants us to understand that criticism is as important as breathing for us, as its human nature to criticize every and each thing in life and we are incomplete without it as if no one ever criticizes us then we are never going to know our mistake and continue the way we are doing it but never rectify ourself and get any progress in our life.

Q7) WHAT IS ACCORDING TO T.S. ELIOT, THE TENDENCY OF THE READERS FOR PRAISING A POET?

ANS)According to T.S. Eliot, the tendency of readers for praising a poet is that praise the writers when they write something new of their own without the presence of the old poems and writings but just their individuality(uniqueness) talent in it and no reference from the past (predecessor= ancestors) and we get satisfied with it and think we found something new and different from others.

Q8) “IF WE APPROACH A POET WITHOUT THIS PREJUDICE…” – WHAT IS THIS PREJUDICE MENTIONED HERE?

ANS)Here “Prejudice” refers “to finding something new from the old texts or poems or different writings”. And Eliot wants us to understand that without the presence of the past in any writings of the writers, a writer can never become a good writer.

Q9) “WE SHALL OFTEN FIND THAT NOT ONLY THE BEST, BUT THE MOST INDIVIDUAL PARTS OF HIS WORK MAY BE THOSE IN WHICH THE DEAD POET, HIS ANCESTORS ASSERT THEIR IMMORTALITY MOST VIGOROUSLY” —EXPLAIN

ANS)According to TS Eliot, the above question quoted lines indicates that not only the individuality of the poet is needed in his works but also the presence of immediate predecessors is required in it, i.e., the prejudice which will create a kind of new writing in which we can find something new i.e., the combination of individual writing and references or presence of old poets and their writings will create a different kind of writings and that will be best for the readers.

Q10) WHAT KIND OF TRADITION, ACCORDING TO TS ELIOT, SHOULD BE DISCOURAGED?

ANS) According to TS Eliot, the kind of tradition should be discouraged, is that blindly following the rules and regulations of the immediate generations and writing the same things as them, as there is no individuality in it and it should be stopped as soon as possible as “Novelty is better than repetition” and most of the writers who do follow the immediate generation blindly soon get lost into the sand.

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For Part 2 click here – 1.2 QnA