Foundations of Literary Theory &

Criticism: Plato and Literary Criticism

Instructor
Dr. Munazzah Rabbani
 School of Athens by Raphael
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Plato & Aristotle
 Plato and Literary Criticism
• Socrates-Plato-Aristotle (SPA)
• Plato was a disciple of Socrates and Aristotle
was a disciple of Plato.
• Plato: born in 427 BC in Athens, Greece, and
died in 347 BC in Athens.
• Established his famous Academy of Athens
where he taught philosophy for 40 years.
 Plato’s The Republic
• The Republic is a Socratic dialogue, authored by Plato around
375 BC, concerning justice, the order and character of the just
city-state (an ideal city), and the just man. It is Plato's best-
known work, and has proven to be one of the world's most
influential works of philosophy and political theory, both
intellectually and historically.
• In the dialogue, Socrates talks with various Athenians and
foreigners about the meaning of justice and whether the just
man is happier than the unjust man.
• They also discuss the theory of forms/ideas,
the immortality of the soul, and the role of the philosopher
and of poetry in the ideal state.
 Plato’s Theory of Imitation
• Plato in The Republic talks about imitation or mimesis. He
believes all art is imitation.
• The world as we perceive it is the copy or imitation of
Idea/Form; it is in itself a copy, not the original.
• Art/literature imitates the ordinary events and objects of
life. In this sense, a work of literature/art is the copy of a
copy of Idea/Form. It is even more of an illusion than the
ordinary object/event. It is, hence, twice removed from
reality.
• Works of art, at best, are entertainment and, at worst, a
dangerous and misleading delusion.
 Plato’s Attack on Poetry
• In The Republic, Plato is mainly concerned
with, first, the construction of an ideal state,
and, second, with the nurturing of an ideal man
who is the individual counterpart of the state.
• Plato banished poets and poetry from his ideal
Republic.
• “No poetry should be admitted save hymns to
the gods and panegyrics on famous men.”
(Plato, The Republic)
 Plato’s Attack on Poetry
• Some contextualizing factors that need to be mentioned
while discussing Plato’s attack in poetry including:
1-Poetry had become exceptionally influential in the
society. Greeks not only regarded poets as creators of
verse, but also as teachers.
2- Poetry was facing degeneration in terms of quality.
3- Plato, like many other philosophers, desired to advocate
the superiority of philosophers over poets.
• Due to these contextualizing factors, he attacked poetry
on moral, emotional, and intellectual grounds.
Plato’s Attack on Poetry: Moral Grounds
• Poetry responded to popular beliefs. Thus, poets fondly
narrate tales publicizing pleasant vices of human life. He
considered drama to be a bigger culprit in this sense since the
dramatists entirely depended on popular patronage. Publicity
of such vices led to immoral tendencies among people.
• Poets presented false ideas about Greeks Gods and heroes
who represented Greek Gods. Greek Gods were shown to be
corrupt, immoral and dishonest in the epics that poets
created. Such tendencies were particularly noted in Homer’s
epics. The natural inclination of children and youth to follow
Greek Gods and heroes, therefore, accounted to immorality in
the society.
Plato’s Attack on Poetry: Moral Grounds
• Plato speaks of the imitative nature of the
soul:
• “We would not have our guardians grow up
amid images of moral deformity. Let our
artists rather be those who are gifted to
discern the true nature of the beautiful and
graceful, then will our youth dwell in a land of
health, and fairsights and sounds, and receive
the good in everything.” (Plato, The Republic)
 Plato’s Attack on Poetry: Emotional
Grounds
• Plato believed that poetry abounded in vulgar, sensational and
corrupt elements since imitation of baser aspects of human life was
easier and also offered more momentary pleasure. Thus, poets
preferred emotions over reason.
• Plato condemned the forms of poetry other than lyric poetry. He
believed that epic, tragedy and comedy were imitative by nature.
Identification with fictitious characters on the part of poet or reader
was inappropriate as per Plato’s views since imitation would soon
become second nature.
• As per his beliefs, tragic poetry gave uncontrolled expression to the
emotions like pity and grief which actually were to be restrained.
• “Poetry feeds and waters the passions, instead of drying them up.”
(Plato’s The Republic)
 Plato’s Attack on Poetry: Intellectual
Grounds
• Poets imitated only superficial appearances and had no
knowledge of truth.
• Poets never understood the world beyond the senses which was
the world of ideal reality. Thus, they could not understand the
concepts like beauty, truth and virtue.
• He compared poetry to painting by giving the example of a
painter who paints a bed or a chair. The bed or chair that a
carpenter makes is not the reality, rather it is only the
imitation/copy of the idea/form. Hence, carpenter’s bed or chair
is once removed from reality. The painter by painting that bed or
chair is only making a copy of a copy—imitating what is already
an imitation. So his work of art is twice removed from reality.