Tradition and the Individual Talent: An Essay

This essay considers how a writer relates to the literary past. Rather than treating earlier works as museum pieces, the author argues that tradition is a living order that new work must join and reshape. He also argues that a poet's personal feeling should give way to the craft of the work itself, so that the finished piece matters more than the life behind it. The essay examines how poems and their makers stand within the stream of earlier literature, setting out ideas that have shaped how critics talk about originality and influence.