3 - Plato and poetry

Summary

The great challenge for any interpreter of Plato's views on poetry is to appreciate why he is so uncompromisingly hostile towards it. That he should seek to subordinate poetic to philosophic measures of expression and understanding is not in itself surprising. Philosophy has long had a need to keep poetry in its place - as Plato, alluding to the ‘ancient quarrel’ between the two, was among the first to tell us (Rep. 10.607b). But what is striking in Plato's attitude is that even when he comes to acknowledge a usefulness in poetry - its role in educating the young, in civil celebration, in persuasion of many sorts - he is not content (as is, say, Aristotle) to grant its virtues, unstintingly, while nevertheless delimiting their scope; rather, he regards poetry at all times and in all its uses with suspicion, as a substance inherently volatile. He recognises that human society is not possible without some form of poetry, but discerns in this fact a mark, so to speak, of our fallen state. Many philosophers have measured their distance from the poets; but Plato would put them beyond hierarchy altogether; would banish them - at least, would banish those he confesses to represent poetry at its greatest - from his ideal society.

Poetry as performance: the example of Ion

We shall not appreciate the reasons for Plato's hostility towards poetry unless we bear in mind how poetry would typically reach the public in Plato's day. In a modern culture our most frequent direct contact with the literature deemed important in our society (and in the West this would of course include the very poets on whom Plato targets his attack) comes either through private and (at least potentially) reflective reading, or in the context of the classroom; and is supplemented in the case of drama by visits to the theatre, to see actual performance.