Eliot’s Concept of Depersonalization or His Theory of Impersonality

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Discuss Eliot’s Concept of
Depersonalization or His
Theory of Impersonality
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In Tradition and #Individual Talent, he
propounded the doctrine that poetry
should be #impersonal and free itself
from Romantic practices, ‘the
progress of an author is a continual
self-sacrifice, a continual extinction
of personality’. He sees that in this
depersonalization, the art approaches
science. For Eliot, emotions in poetry
must be depersonalized. Artistic self-
effacement is essential for great
artistic work.
~~~~~~~~~
He opposed #Coleridge who says that a
worth of a poet is #judged by his
personal impressions and feelings.
Eliot says that impressionism is not a
safe guide. A poet in the present must
be judged with reference to the poets
in the past. Comparison a#nd analysis
are the important tools for a critic.
The critic must see whether there is a
fusion of thought and feeling in the
poet, depersonalized his emotions
and whether he has the sense of
tradition. So these are the objective
standards. But what emotion is Eliot
talking of? He speaks against the
poet’s emotions. Art, too has
emotions; but different from those of
the artist and this difference is to be
maintained for a great work of #art.
#Eliot #says:
《《《 “The difference between art
and the event is always absolute”
》》》》
His theory of impersonality goes even
further when he criticizes
Wordsworth’s view that poetry has
its, Origin in emotions recollected in
tranquility”. In his view poetry is an
organization of different concepts and
for such organization to take place
perfect objectivity on the part of the
poet is essential. There is no question
of the poet expressing his personal
emotions. To Eliot, The poet’s
emotions and passions must be
depersonalized; he must be as
impersonal and objective as a
scientist. The personality of the artist
is not important: important thing is
his sense of tradition; A good poem is
a living whole of all the poetry that
has ever been written. The poet must
forget his personal joys and sorrows,
and be absorbed in acquiring a sense
of tradition and expressing it in his
poetry. Thus the poet’s personality is
merely a medium, having the same
significance as a catalytic agent, or a
receptacle in which chemical reaction
takes place. That is why the poet
Poetry is not a turning loose of
emotion, but an escape from
emotion; it is not the expression of
personality, but an escape from
personality. Eliot does not deny
personality or emotion to the poet.
Only, he must depersonalise his
emotions. There should be an
extinction of his personality. This
impersonality can be achieved only
when the poet surrenders himself
completely to the work that is to be
done. Eliot asserts:
~~~~~~~~~~
“《#The emotion of art is
impersonal. And the poet cannot
reach this ‘impersonality
without surrendering himself
wholly to the work”》》

Eliot compares the poet’s mind to a
jar or receptacle in which are stored
numberless feelings, emotions etc.,
which remain there in an
unorganized and chaotic form till, “all
the particles which can unite to form
a new compound are present
together.” Thus poetry is organization
rather than inspiration. And the
greatness of a poem does not depend
upon the greatness of, or even the
intensity of, the emotions, which are
the components of the poem, but
upon the intensity of the process of
poetic composition. Just as a chemical
reaction takes place under pressure,
so also intensity is indeed for the
fusion of emotions into a single
whole. The more intense the poetic
process, the greater the poem. There
is
always a difference between the
artistic emotion and the personal
emotion of the poet. The poet has no
personality to express, he is merely a
medium in which impressions and
experiences combine in peculiar and
unexpected ways. Impressions and
experiences which are important for
the man may find no place in his
poetry, and those which become
important in the poetry may have no
significance for the man. The
emotions of poetry are different from
personal emotions of the poet. Eliot
#endorses:
《 “ It is not in his personal
emotions, the emotions provoked by
particular events in his life, that
the poet is in any way remarkable
or interesting”
》》》
In the poetic process there is only
concentration of a number of
experiences and a new things results
from this concentration. And this
process of concentration is neither
conscious nor deliberate; it is a
passive one. In the beginning, his self,
his individuality, may assert itself, but
as his powers mature there must be
greater and greater extinction of
personality. He must acquire greater
and greater objectivity. He compares
the mind of the poet to a catalyst and
the process of poetic creation to the
process of a chemical reaction. Just as
chemical reactions take place in the
presence of a catalyst alone, so also
the poet’s mind is the catalytic agent
for combining different emotions into
something new. The experiences
which enter the poetic process, says
Eliot, may be of two kinds. They are
emotions and feelings. Poetry may be
composed out of emotions only or out
of feelings only, or out of both. There
is always a difference between the
artistic emotion and the personal
emotions of the poet. Eliot speaks of
John Keats:

~~~~~~~~
《 “The #ode of Keats contains a
number of feelings which have
nothing particular to do with the
nightingale, but which the
nightingale, partly perhaps
because of its attractive name, and
partly because of its reputation,
served to bring together”》
~~~~~~
Thus, the difference between #art and
#emotion is always absolute. The poet
has no personality to express, he is
merely a medium in which
impressions and experiences combine
in peculiar and unexpected ways.
#According to Eliot, two kinds of
#constituents go into the making of a
poem: the personal elements, i.e. the
feelings and emotions of the poet,
and the impersonal elements, i.e. the
‘tradition’, the accumulated
knowledge and wisdom of the past,
which are acquired by the poet. These
two elements interact and fuse
together to form a new thing, which
we call a poem. It is the mistaken
notion that the poet must express
new emotions that results in much
eccentricity in poetry. That is why,
Eliot says:
~~~~`
“《《His particular emotions
may be simple, or crude, or flat”》》
It is not the business of the poet to
find new emotions. He may express
only ordinary emotions, but he must
impart to them a new significance
and a new meaning. And it is not
necessary that they should be his
personal emotions. Even emotions
which he has never personally
experienced can serve the purpose of
poetry. For example, emotions which
result from the reading of books can
serve his turn. This impersonality can
be achieved only when poet
surrenders himself. And the poet can
know what is to be done, only if he
acquires a sense of tradition, the
historic sense, which makes him
conscious, not only of the present,
but also of the present moment of the
past, not only of what is dead, but of
what is already living.