“Tradition and the Individual Talent” is regarded as one of the most influential literary essays of the 20th century. Its persuasive, confident tone invites the reader to reconsider the definitions of tradition, time, poetry, and artist. Eliot’s theories and principles reflect and informed the Modernist movement of his time while also laying the foundation for the New Criticism.

Eliot wrote this essay shortly after the end of World War I. Many writers of the time were disillusioned by the war and sought meaning in personal experience rather than social and political life. Eliot’s arguments take aim at this emphasis on the individual artist’s emotions and feelings as the center of poetry. “Tradition and the Individual Talent” suggests a new approach to criticism, giving primacy to tradition and the past. In doing so, Eliot invites readers to reconsider their assumptions about art and the nature of time. Through parallel considerations of tradition and individuality, the poet and the poem, the past and the present, and emotions and artistic process, Eliot fixes the necessity of each concept to the other without resolving the tensions between them.

Though the essay touches on theoretical ideals, it is intended to be a practical guide for poets and artists of any type.