The famous essay 'Tradition and the Individual Talent' was written by the American-English poet and literary critic T. S. Eliot. First published in 1919, the essay argues that poetry should be impersonal and that the poet's role is to serve as a medium for the collective emotions of the "mind of Europe," connecting to the historical and literary tradition of the past. 
Key details about the essay:
Author:
T. S. Eliot 
Original Publication:
Published in 1919 in The Egoist 
Later Publication:
It was included in Eliot's first book of criticism, The Sacred Wood, in 1920. 
Main Ideas:
The essay explores the concepts of "tradition" as a simultaneous and ongoing order of literature from Homer to the present day, and "impersonality," where the poet should express something beyond their own personality, becoming a medium for the larger collective.