Plato was born in 427 B.C., in Athens.

He grew up in era of
Peloponnesian War which began just a er his birth and
lasted for more than two decades resul ng defeat and
humilia on for Athens. The end of war resulted poli cal
decline and uncertainty. In 399 B.C., Socrates was put to
death on charge of immorality and corrup ng the young.
A er the death of Socrates and poli cal unrest a er war,
educa on was in sorry state and only the Homer’s poetry was
the tradi onal Greek mode of educa on for young when
achieved maturity. This curriculum was one of the basic
reasons for Plato’s a ack on poetry which he discussed in
his . The golden era of Greek art was
over and crea ve impulse had died away. The contemporary
literature was immoral and of no quality which made Plato to
cri cize it for improvements. Due to this, sorry state
philosophers and orators were preferred to poets.
Plato a acked poetry on many grounds which include
intellectual ground, emo onal ground, ethical ground, lack of
reality, and illogical and irra onal nature of poetry.

Plato said that poets have no knowledge of truth but they

just imitate only appearance. He compared a poet with a
painter who imitates reality. Beyond the world of senses,
there is another world of ideal reality. This poetry can tell is
nothing about this world. Mimesis, according to Plato, is only
a representa on rather than crea ve expression. Poetry was
unacceptable to him because, according to his logic, it drove
people to live lives that were not their own. He said that
poetry is thrice removed from reality.

Literature such as epics of Homer, the Odes of Pindar and

tragedies of Aeschylus is not conducive to social morality, as
poets pander to the popular taste and narrate tales of men’s
pleasant vices. This has a demoralising effect. In the words of
Republic '
Plato from his book

Plato’s ethical objec on to poetry is that it lies about gods

and many stories presented by the poets are morally
reprehensible. As a result, he despises Homer’s and Hesoid’s
poetry. Allegorical interpreta on, he says is no help, for
children cannot dis nguish between what is allegorical and
what is literal. The mythical poetry of the period was full of
sensuality and malicious tales that were unfit for the children.
He was also against children stories that scare them and make
them cowards in real life. Drama, he claims is equally harmful
for the public’s morality and fosters licen ousness and
lawlessness. Similarly, theatre in his opinion, appeals to
sensa onalised love.

Plato characterises poetry as feeding and flourishing

appe tes and emo ons rather than eradica ng them in Book
X ofRepublic.
In his words:

He divided the soul into 3 parts:

Ra onal
Spiritual
Appe te
The poetry appeals to the third part of the soul. According to
him, such feelings lull us into a state of delusion and one is
forced to experience emo ons that he would never have in
real life. Such fic ous feelings and sen ments, according to
Plato, are baser and illegi mate, they Foster weakness and
contradict philosophical exhorta on. How can poetry be
appropriate if it generates grief and troubles that no one
enjoys in real life, Plato wondered.

Plato’s view on poetry are like pain ng which is resemblance

to a real object. He says that pain ng imitates by colors and
on the other hand poetry imitates by words but func on is
same: that is imita on. He blames poetry for lack of reality
and truth in it. Most of the literature on gods is fabricated
and immoral that is far away from reality and truth. Most of
the characters in epics are treacherous, false and illegi mate.
Poetry is merely a copy and twice removed from reality hence
it is useless thing as poet depicts the world and the world
itself is a copy of the sketch in God’s mind.
Plato also highlights the unhealthy influence of poetry on
social morality. To him, poetry not only incites pleasant vices
of men but also forms inaccurate inferences about gods. As a
moralist, Plato disapproves of poetry because it is immoral, as
a philosopher he disapproves of it because it is based on
falsehood. He is of the view that philosophy is better
than poetry because philosophers deal with idea / truth,
whereas poets deal with what appears to him/ illusion.
He thinks man might lose their manly power and
authority, their worrierness by raising emotions.

Plato says:

The poet
are to be honored, but they must be banished. In the
republic, Plato argues that poets have no place in an ideal
state. They spread misinforma on and corrupt the youth’s
minds. He argues that poets do not compose their poems
with knowledge, but by some inborn talents and by
inspira on, like seers and prophets who also say many fine
things without any understanding of what they say. Poets
u er great and wise things which they do not themselves
understand so poets should be expelled from the country.

Plato was of opinion that poetry did not promote the

sovereign elements of personality because it is based upon
inspira on rather than on reason. Plato felt that poetry, like
all forms of art , appeals to the inferior part of the soul, the
irra onal, emo onal comedy part. To Plato, an appari on of
poetry is incomparable with an appari on of reason, jus ce
and the search for truth. He suggests that poetry causes
needless lamenta on and ecstasies at the imaginary p events
of sorrow and happiness. It numbs the facul es of reason for
me being, paralyses the balance thought and encourages
the weaker part of soul cons tuted of the baser impulses.
Hence, it takes away one’s ability to think logically and
ra onally. As it directly appeals our senses and emo ons so
not only it is irra onal and illogical but also morally degrades
us.

Plato felt sincerely that the poetry of his me was not good,
and the poets were dangerous not only to the well- being of
the state but to the theory and apprecia on of fine art itself.
Therefore, Plato’s theory of art is something alien to the
green temperament and outlook.
Plato condemns only that at which has misunderstood its
func on. His purpose was not so much to give us a systema c
theory of art as to tell us what is not true and great art. His
aesthe c theory is highly sugges ve and illumina ng and
gives hints which are more valuable than any well formulated
theory.
Plato was the first cri c to divide the arts into two categories.
1.the fine arts,such as a poetry, music, pain ng etc.
2. the useful arts,such as medicine, agriculture etc.
Though Plato depreciates poetry as the copy of copy, yet he
was alive to an unseen reality exis ng behind the objects of
sense. He did not fail to appreciate the ideal forms exis ng
behind that unseen world. Through a process of imita on the
poet represents things as they ought to be rather than as
they are. Thus Plato throws hint of poetry being a crea ve
art. Talking of Plato Atkin says that