The extract is taken from Tradition and the Individual Talent, an essay written by T.S.Eliot. The topic of discussion of the extract is what makes a new work of art innovative. An important element is the relationship with the poet and his predecessors. A lots of people think a work has to be unique in order to be enjoyed, but,according to Mr Eliot, a work of art the more it includes the ancient poets the more it is innovative. A work of art ,indeed, comprises all the times and it is intertextual, interlinguistic and intercultural but innovation doesn't mean copy, indeed a full comprehension is needed. Furthermore, the tradition has to coexist with the poet's individuality. The work of art is the result of the time it is written in, that is the reader can distinguish facts and events belonging to the poet's period, besides it is out of time, that is the past is included in the present moment.

A writer is considered traditional when he is aware of his position in time and he is seen under the perspective of the temporal and the timeless. An innovative writer's work reflects the language and the struture of his time and it derives from a sense of awareness and a work of assimilation and revision of the tradition. As a result he changes the meaning of what there was before.