PLATO ON POETRY-1

Plato is still regarded as one of the greatest thinkers the world has ever seen. He is believed to have been the disciple of the legendary Socrates. He was not a literary critic in the modern sense of the term. He was a philosopher concerned with truth and reality. In the course of his enquiries into reality, Plato found himself faced with many issues. What was known as “imaginary writings”, mainly poetry was one of them. His observations on the nature of poetry are found in his books such as “Ion”, “Republic” so on. Plato says that poetry is the imitation of life. Life itself is not real but a reflection of what he calls, ‘Form’ or ‘Idea’ of life that exists somewhere else. Therefore, the life represented in poetry is not real .It is twice removed from reality. Plato points to the poet’s own admission that they write poetry when they are inspired. So the views expressed in poetry, says Plato, is not the outcome of rational thinking which alone, as he sees it, can lead us to the understanding of reality. Unlike philosophy which is based on cold reasoning. poetry is the product of sudden and momentary impulse. So it cannot improve the character of the citizens. As it is a product of inspiration rather than that of reflection, poetry appeals to emotion holding reason prisoner. To prove his arguments Plato refers to the weeping and wailings in the poetry of his time. Plato further holds that, poetry is not concerned with morality. It treats virtues and vices alike. Sometimes virtue triumphs at other times vice triumphs. Depicting triumphs of vice in poetry will demoralise the citizens and harm the society. The fall of good men depicted in the epics of Homer, in the verses of Hesiod and the tragedies of Sophocles etc disturbed Plato much. Moreover, the picture of Gods and heroes in their poetry are immoral and hence objectionable. Gods are often unjust, cruel and indulged in immoral and vengeful activities. The heroes are often influenced by the passions of pride, anger and grief. Plato felt that this type of poetry could harm the harmonious life of the people. According to Plato “Poetry fed and watered the passions instead of drying them up. People let them rule instead of ruling them as they ought to be ruled with a view to the happiness and virtues of mankind.”