Impersonal Theory of Poetry

One of the long line of poet-critics,T.S.Eliot was a

conscious poet who had thought long and deep about
the mysteries of his own art.His innovative style and
influential critical essays helped to establish new
attitudes to literature which drew attention to
tradition,the importance of continuity and the role of
objectivity.

Eliot’s contribution to the English poetic tradition is

significant. Along with Ezra Pound and other
experimental writers,he challenged the literary
conventions of the Nineteenth century, changing the
subject matter and the language of poetry.Eliot was no
longer a man speaking to man as Wordsworth was,but
a manipulator and creator of words and patterns.He
was prominent in the development of artistic symbols
as representations of the sensibility of the time,and
consciously moved away from the sentimentality of
much Victorian verse.

The essay “ Tradition and the Individual Talent”

demonstrates the theory of impersonal poetry. Theory
of impersonality refers to the concept of impersonal
relation between a man as a poet and as a general
man.Poetry has two types:objective and subjective. A
subjective work is one in which the author
incorporates into the narrative his or her personal
disposition,judgement, values and feelings. While an
objective or impersonal work is one in which the
author presents situation or fictional characters and
their thoughts,feelings and actions and undertakes to
remain detached and noncommittal.Thus a subjective
lyric is one in which we are invited to associate the “I”
or lyric speaker,with poet,for instance Wordsworth’s
Tintern Abbey. In an objective poetry,the speaker is
obviously an invented character or else is simply a
lyric voice without specific characteristics.The poems
of Eliot such as The Waste Land and The Love Song of
J.Alfred Prufrock are a good example of the Objective
lyrics or poetry. In ‘Prufrock’,the ironic tone of the title
immediately establishes the context for failure. The
love song is never sung and Prufrock fails to live up
the grandeur of his title. The imagery is used as a
means of representing the triviality of Prufrock's (?)
and lack of his self esteem- both are symbolic not just
of Prufrock but of Twentieth century.Through these
techniques and through the allusions that indirectly
comment on the present by the reference to the past
( in complete sentence. For Eliot without directly

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engaging in a personal expression that poetry is an
objective poetry.

In the sphere of literature,according to Eliot, the

impersonal order is the tradition. This theory places
tradition, artist and the critic in equilibrium. It enlarges
the notion of tradition.

Eliot's concept of “objective correlative” is

closely associated with the idea of the
impersonality of poetry. The phrase occurs in
his essay “Hamlet and His Problems”in The
Sacred Wood,and it has been used by him to
explain how emotion can be best expressed in
poetry. As Eliot states that “The only way of
expressing emotion in the form of art is by
finding an objective coorelative; in other words,a
set of objects,a situation,a chain of events which
shall be formula of that particular emotion.”

Eliot’s theory of poetry marks a complete

break from the 19th century tradition.He
rejected the romantic theory that all art is
basically an expression of the artist’s
personality,and that the artist should create

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 according to the dictates of his own “ inner
voice “ without owing allegiance to any outside
authority. According to Eliot as he states that
inner voice means writing as one wishes.Thus
Eliot rejects romantic subjectivism and
emotionalism and emphasises on objective
standards.Eliot advocated his famous theory
of impersonal poetry where he recognised the
dangers of unrestricted liberty and felt that
granted such license there would be only
“fitful and transient burst of literary brilliance;
inspiration is not a safe guide.It often results
eccentricity and chaos.” Reacting against
Wordsworth's theory that poetry is
“spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling “ or
that poetry has its origin in “emotions
recollected in tranquillity”,Eliot advances his
theory of impersonality of poetry.He observes,
“Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion but
an escape from emotion, it is not an
expression of personality but an escape from
personality. “ Unlike Wordsworth,Eliot prefers
objectivity and intellect. He rejects
Wordsworth’s theory of poetry as ‘emotions
recollected in tranquillity.’ It is neither emotion
nor recollection and nor tranquillity but poetic

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 process is a process of concentration of a very
great number of experiences and this
concentration is not conscious or delibrate.
Eliot holds the poet and the poem are two
separate things and ‘that the feeling,or
emotions,or vision resulting from the poem is
different, from the feeling or emotion of the
poet' This he elucidates by examining first,the
relation of the poet to the the past,and next the
relation of the poem to its author.The artist has
to take something from the past but at the
same time he asserts his individuality, and
while asserting his individuality he should be
careful;he should remain objective.
Moreover,Eliot avoids self-pity and
sentimentality through impersonality. He
believes that the poet should not reveal his
personality in his writing.For him the process
should be one of the “continual self-
sacrifice,continual extinction of the
personality.”

Next,Eliot demands an objective authority

for art,and in this way his theory of poetry
approximates to that of classics. Eliot believes
that the classics could achieve this form and

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 balance,this order and completeness,only
because they owed allegiance to an objective
authority which was provided to them by past
tradition-“stores of tradition “.Another sign of
maturity,according to Eliot,is the unification of
sensibility of thought and feelings and such
unification Eliot found in the Metaphysicals
like John Donne,and hence his admiration for
them.