What is T.S. Eliot's impersonal theory of poetry?

Answer 1

T.S. Eliot's impersonal theory of poetry asserts that the poet's personal emotions and experiences should not be the focal point of a poem. Instead, poetry should strive to capture universal truths and speak to the collective human experience. This approach emphasizes objectivity, detachment, and an emphasis on form and technique over personal expression.

Answer 2

If anything I would say the opposite is true. Since roughly the 1950's and poets like Robert Lowell, a great deal of modern poetry has been what is called Confessional, meaning the writer actually writes about himself. Previous to that it was considered sort of taboo to write about oneself. Of course, in academic poetry the trend is, and always has been, to be so complex that the reader may feel excluded from the process. This may seem contrary to the goal of communicating, but since the academic poets ultimate audience is other academic poets overseeing public funding, they often appear to not be concerned with the reader at all.

The Beat movement, followed by the Small Press and subsequent Outlaw and Outsider movements depend on readers so they actually try to write poems people can understand and relate to. That's how I try to write myself. <a href=http://www.zombielogicpress.com>Zombie Logic</a>

Answer 3

The central point of T.S. Eliot's Impersonal Theory of Poetry is that 'the poet, the man, and the poet, the artist are two different entities'. The poet has no 'personality' of his own. He submerges his own personality, his own feelings and experiences into the personality and feelings of the subject of his poetry.

The experiences or impressions which are obviously autobiographical may be of great interest to the writer himself, but not to his readers. The more perfect the poet, the more completely separate in him will be the man who experiences and creates.