The extract is one of the most important essays about Eliot's concept of literature. It is an argumentative text and the theses are impersonality of literature and his idea of how relationship between the individual and the poets of the past must be like. The extract is written in prose, in 1920. Right from the start Eliot states the ordinary idea of what is to considered as a new form of literature: it is just something completely different from previous forms of art. The poet does not agree at all: most of times the best and the most individual parts of a work are a product of the dead poets. Just handing down is not the real concept of "tradition" as well, it is much more. It implies the historical sense: the perception of both the pastness and the presence of the past. A writer must be aware of all the literary past, every single element is relevant. A great work has no time, it is always contemporary. The relation of a poet to the dead poets and artist is necessary. He/she must make a critical analysis, for contrast and comparison among them. When a new work of art is introduced all the balance of all works changes. Even the literature of the past is altered by the present and vice versa. I agree with Eliot: we are a product of the past, so it is really important to know and be aware of it. And a new work of art cannot just be a copy, not only in literature, in all forms of art. It should have elements taken from monuments, maybe reformed, and new ones, always in keeping with former convections.