Tradition provides objects for imitation, as well as a standard for evaluation.
No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning along. Tradition is an order, always already complete and coherent, though not closed. This means that the present changes the past, just as the past changes the present, since both are constituted in their relations to each other. Eliot defines tradition in terms of its content, as well as its function. Though Eliot recognizes the existence of distinct national traditions, he also plugs these into a larger European tradition.