00095--Discuss T.S. Eliot's views about impressionistic or Aesthetic School of Criticism.

            T.S. Eliot did not approve of the Impressionistic School  of Criticism because it was purely subjective without any definite norms or principles to evaluate a literary work.  Mr.Symons initiated this approach, which was further supported by Pater and Swinburne. T.S. Eliot called it "Imperfect Criticism', explaining his approach.

            T.S. Eliot's objection is that an individual's personal impressions can neither be universal nor unbiased nor unprejudiced.  They cannot set a standard of evaluation for others.  They would differ from person to person according to one's taste, level of sensitivity, and power of discrimination.  Eliot says that a critic is concerned only with the principles and precepts of poetic communication, not with the man behind a work of art.  The main objective of criticism is "the common pursuit of true judgement", unconditioned by any 'personal prejudices or cranks'.  A true critic encounters in a work of art its intrinsic vision, embodied on a well-organised system.  In brief, T.S. Eliot launches a violent attack on all impressionistic critics who seek a kind of "self-gratification through their subjective pronouncements on writers and their works".

00094--Which is superior between creative faculty and critical faculty according to T.S. Eliot?

            T.S. Eliot does not agree with the general view that creative faculty is better and higher than critical faculty.  He holds the view that the creative and critical faculties are complementary to each other.  While criticism cannot exist without creative literature, creative literature cannot flourish without critical principles and evaluation.  Neither of them can exist and flourish without the other.  True criticism is the institution of a scientific enquiry into a work of art to see it as it really is.  The artist would learn much from the analysis and evaluation of his work by a critic.  Thus Eliot perceives the important role played by critical faculty in the creative process.  This invalidates the romantic notion of creation as being purely inspirational

            Eliot upholds the importance of subtle manipulation of material by an ever-vigilant judgement of a critic.  Thus Eliot refutes Arnold's contention that creative faculty is higher and nobler.  He establishes the "capital importance of criticism in the work of creation itself".  Eliot goes on to say that the "criticism employed by a trained and skilled writer on his own work is the most vital, the highest kind of criticism".  He concludes that "some writers are superior to others solely because their critical faculty is superior".

00093--Explain T.S. Eliot's Theory of Objective Correlative.

            T.S. Eliot enunciates his Theory of Objective Correlative in his famous essay Hamlet and His problem.  Eliot calls 'Hamlet' "an artistic failure" because it is wanting in Objective Correlative.  Eliot says that every powerful character in a play has a flood of powerful feelings and emotions within his heart which force to express themselves.  If the character raves or laments loudly all atone on the stage, the scene would appear to be highly crude and inartistic.  His powerful emotions must express themselves through some suggestive objective symbols.  These symbols  may be objects or unconscious actions.  These objective or actions are called objective correlative.  Eliot says:  "The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an objective correlative; in other words a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of the particular emotion; such that when the external facts which must terminate in  sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked".

            The innermost feelings of the character are objectified and externally presented on the stage through these objective correlatives.  The best example of objective correlative is found in the "Sleep Walking' scene in Macbeth, where lady Macbeth walks holding a candle and rubbing her hands, as if washing them, and murmuring "all the perfumes of Arabia will not be able to sweeten this little hand".  She does over again what she had done before in the scene of king Duncan's murder.  These actions of hers are objective correlative of her deeply suppressed feelings of spiritual agony and repentance.  In other words, the agony, unexpressed as such, is made so objective here that it can be as well seen by the eyes as felt by the heart.

00091--What is T.S. Eliot's meaning of Tradition, and what is the individual talent in it?

            The terms 'Tradition' and 'Traditional' are generally used in the derogatory sense.  But with T.S. Eliot they are hallowed with historical and cultural stream from antiquity to the modern times.  It is a stream that connects the past with the future through the present.  So Eliot says, "It involves, in the first place, the historical sense, which we may call nearly indispensable to anyone who would continue to be a poet beyond his twenty-fifth year; and the historical sense involves  a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence".  He continues to say, "This historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal, and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional".

            A great poet can conspicuously show his talent in this stream of tradition.  No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone.  His significance can be judged only when he is placed and evaluated in the stream of the great poets of the past.  So Eliot says, "You cannot value a poet alone; you must set him, for contrast and comparison among the dead.  This is a principle of aesthetic, not merely historical criticism".  A poet must know that he has to be judged by the standards of the past.  It is a comparison in which two things are measured by each other.  The poet must be very conscious of the main currents, past as well as the present.  A great poet must set himself in this tradition coming down since antiquity.

00090--What are the essential qualifications of a perfect critic according to T.S. Eliot ?

            According to T.S. Eliot, an ideal critic performs two basic functions - 'elucidation of a work of art under his review' and 'correction of taste'.  A perfect critic must possess a highly trained mind and refined literary taste to be able to perform these two basic functions.  He must have the taste and talent to understand the true nature of poetry.  He must possess a disciplined and analytical mind to 'elucidate' a work of art through 'comparison and analysis'.  Further more, his judgements must be balanced and impartial, unaffected by any kind of bias or prejudice.  "Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet, but upon the poetry".

            A perfect critic must not belong to any particular literary school or movement.  He must make disinterested endeavour to know and propagate the best that is known and thought in the world.  He must be able to overcome all his prejudices and also refrain from an excessive quest for 'sources', 'influences' and such other extraneous information.  For him a work of art must be complete in itself.  He must be able to 'bring permanent artistic values to bear upon contemporary art'.  He must also have the moral courage to reject the wrong and uphold the true and genuine element in a work of art.  It is true that some biographical information about the author may be useful, but it should not be explored too much.  In his concluding remarks, Eliot says that a perfect critic should not merely be a technical expert, but also "the whole man, a man with convictions and principles, and knowledge and experience of life".

00089--What is the function of Criticism according to T.S. Eliot?

            In his essay The Function of Criticism, T.S. Eliot discusses the basic concept of literary criticism and its function.  He says that the primary function of criticism is an objective and impersonal 'commentation and exposition of works of art by means of written words'.

            True criticism is a system of scientific enquiry in to the essential spirit of a work of art .  The function of the critic is to see a work of art as it is, and to present before the reader what he sees in it.  Thus criticism is 'a disinterested exercise of intelligence' bearing on a work of art.  A good critic must aim at the clear 'elucidation of works of art and the correction of taste.  'Elucidation is needed because most of the readers are prone to 'confuse issues' implied in a work of art.  Similarly, 'correction of taste' is needed because every critical effort must act 'as a kind of cog regulating the rate of change in literary taste'.

            With his attention fixed solely and steadfastly on the work before him, he has to dig deep into it for the law that can account for it fully.  T.S. Eliot further says that the most important critic of a creative artist is the author himself.  No author can produce a great literary work if he does not have an inherent critical faculty in himself.  T.S. Eliot says, "I maintain even that the criticism employed by a trained and skilled writer on his own work is the most vital, the highest kind of criticism; and some creative writers are superior to others solely because their critical faculty is superior".