TRADITION REVISITED: T. S. ELIOT AND THE JOHN DONNE AFFAIR

Abstract

From the notion of “dissociation of sensibility,” exposed by T. S. Eliot in his essay “The Metaphysical Poets,” published in 1921, this paper discusses how the poet shifts the positions occupied by John Milton and John Donne in the English literary canon through an argument that defends the connection between “individual talent” and literary tradition. In sum, despite the apparent classicism associated to the idea of “literary tradition,” Eliot conceives the canon as a movable body that can be adjusted according to the interests of the present time. Tradition is, in short, an object that can be manipulated due to its permanent reconstruction.

Keywords

• Eliot
• tradição
• cânone.