An assertion is a direct statement that assumes or projects truth. “Tradition and the Individual Talent” relies heavily on assertion for tone and persuasion, including in the first sentence: “In English writing we seldom speak of tradition, though we occasionally apply its name in deploring absence” (36). Assertions can be used to state an opinion as fact to get the audience on your side using an authoritative tone. This tone carries the many claims in the essay and persuades the audience to trust the author and accept Eliot’s ideas even without evidence.

Paradox is a statement that, at first, appears to contradict itself but upon further study begins to make sense. Eliot’s prose thrives on these contradictions. A cadre of opposites—past and present, knowledge and creativity—find themselves drawn together in this essay, and even the title unites a seemingly opposite pair— tradition and the individual talent. He creates paradoxes not only by joining illogical pairs but also by taking pairs that seem similar and highlighting their differences.