Plato
Plato attacks poetry on two main fronts, claims to knowledge and as imitations. The poet as Plato knew him was a religious being, who was divinely inspired by the muse. It is therefore futile to attempt an analysis of the modern poet in comparison with the mythic poet. Instead, we must search our society to find a group which best resembles the mythic poet. And then, explore whether Plato's attacks still holds true against are new modern foe of philosophy, if any foe exist at all. The mythic poetry exiled from Plato's republic expresses a way of communicating history and emotion, unlike today's poetry , which expresses and communicates only emotions. The modern reader commonly interprets Plato's expulsion of poets as an attack on the emotional part of are being. However, this attack was not on poets as we understand the meaning of poetry it was on a form of thinking and communicating important information. During Plato's era written communication and conceptual thinking was just beginning to come into existence on a mass scale. The Greek alphabet was created well
The poets were connected and inspired by the muses who have a connection to the gods. This form of religion may be a minority in our society but it is a large minority. Football stadiums full of these zealots form in the name of blind faith. People who viewed as not having beauty were exiled from main stream society, such as lepers or people born with physical defects. Poetry is still an imitation of beauty; however, the effect these imitations have on society are not similar to the effect mythic poets had on Greek society. Any activity one undertakes is an imitation, so why does poetry need to be exiled for this common offense? The mythic poet's claim to knowledge is one of ignorance and not deception. The crusades, Mohammed's rise to power, and the handling of the Incans' by the Catholic church and Spain are all examples of otrasidies committed for the sake of a zealous belief. A southern Baptist preacher, or an evangelist has more in common with a mythic poet than modern poets due. Plato moved thought towards a conceptual form of thinking, which is the form of thinking the modern person uses most. They were interpreted similarly to how a Christian interprets the bible. Right and wrong was interpreted through the gods, gods that valued human life like a child values a toy. The core of Plato's objection to poetry is in its ability to manipulate human emotion. In modern terms Plato was arguing for the separation of church and state and not the separation of art and state. It is easy to romanticize Greek society for all of its art and beauty; however, the Greek people had not yet began to advance in the field of ethics. We must not over look the fact that Hesoid did use Homeric verse in his writings.
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