It is an extract taken from the essay Traditional and individual Talent published in 1920.

The text is an essay so a thesis is advanced: “we shall often find out that not only the best, but the most individual parts of his work(of a poet) may be those in which the dead poets,[…],assert their immortality”. So, the best parts of the poet’s work are them in which dead poets come back to life.

A poet is innovative as much as his work can display the presence of his predecessor in literature.

In his  thesis T.s. Eliot defines his position about what he considers INNOVATIVE.

The question discussed is: what is the relationship between the work of art and the dead poets? The text, and the thesis in particular, is the answer to this question.

Besides Eliot judges the contemporary  way of approaching  new works, and in the specific  the most frequent prejudice: they judge something before analyzing in a thorough way.

After that, he adds that only  icluding experiences in writing that assert the presence of  the works of a poet in his maturity can actually be considered innovative. Indeed during their adolescence poets are overwhelmed by emotions.

The LANGUAGE

Mr. Eliot uses precise words, but, even if an essay is an argumentative text, he shows his ability in  words selection.

TRADITION

Embodying tradition in one's works IS NOT simpy a mechanical activity of COPYING and PASTING, but it is a hard process of assimilation.

Besides, Mr Eliot reinforces the idea that NOVELTY is BETTER than REPETITION, so tradition does not mean  copying.

Quotating in the way T.S. ELIOT did , for example, has a totally different meaning. Mr. Eliot, indeed, anticipates the postmodernist concept of INTERTEXTUALITY.