Paper No.3 Literary Criticism.

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Name: - Jayti Rudresh-Kumar Thakar.

Stream: - M.A.

Main Subject: - English

Part: - 1. Sem: - 1.

Roll. No: - 38

Paper. No: - 3.Literary Criticism

Assignment Topic: - Discuss the Plato’s Objection to Poetry and Aristotle’s Defense to Poetry.

Mentor: - Dilip.P.Barad.

Department Of English

Batch= 2015 – 2017.

                       Introduction: -

       Here, we will discuss the objection of Plato to Poetry and defense of Aristotle to poetry. The debate is quite logical and criticism. Let’s glance upon it. 

                       Plato’s Objection to Poetry: -

Plato’s theory of Mimesis (imitation): The arts deal with illusion or they are imitation of an imitation. Twice removed from reality.

As a moralist Plato disapproves of Poetry because it is immoral, as a philosopher he disapproves of it because it is based on falsehood.

Philosophy is better than poetry because philosopher deals with idea/ truth, whereas poet deals with what appears to him / illusion.

He believed that truth of philosophy was more important than the pleasure of poetry.

Plato was the most distinguished disciple of Socrates. The 4^th BC to which he belonged was as age of inquiry and such Plato’s chief interest was Philosophical investigation which from the subject of his great works in form of Dialogue. He was not a professed critic of literature and his critical observations are not found in any single book.

He was the First Systemic Critic who inquired into the nature of imaginative literature and put forward theories which are both illuminating and provocative. He was himself a great poet and his dialogues are full of his gifted dramatic quality. His Dialogues are the classic works of the world literature having dramatic, lyrical and fictional elements.

According to Plato all arts are imitative or mimetic in nature. He wrote in The Republic that ‘ideas are the ultimate reality’. Things are conceived as ideas before they take practical shapes. So, idea is original and the thing is copy of that idea. Carpenter’s chair is the result of the idea of chair in his mind. Thus chair is once removed from reality. But painter’s chair is imitation of carpenter’s chair. So it is twice removed from reality. Thus artist/ poet take man away from reality rather than towards it. Thus artist deals in illusion.

Plato’s three main objections to poetry are that poetry is not ethical, philosophical and pragmatic, in other words, he objected to poetry from the point of view of Education, from Philosophical point of view and from moral point of view.

According to Plato, poetry is not ethical because it promotes undesirable passions, it is not philosophical and not provides true knowledge, and it is not pragmatic because it is inferior to the practical arts and therefore has no educational value. Plato then makes a challenge to poets to defend themselves against his criticism. Ironically it was Plato’s most famous student, Aristotle, who was the first theorist to defend literature and poetry in his writing Poetics.

Plato felt that poetry, like all forms of art, appeals to the inferior part of the soul, the irrational, emotional cowardly part. The reader of poetry is seduced into feeling undesirable emotions. To Plato, an appreciation of poetry is incompatible with an appreciation of reason, justice and the search for Truth. He suggests that poetry causes needless lamentation and ecstasies at the imaginary events of sorrow and happiness.

To him Drama is the most dangerous form of literature because the author is imitating things that he / she does not understand. Plato seemingly feels that no words are strong enough to condemn drama.   

Plato is, above all, a moralist. Plato’s question in Book 10 is the intellectual status of literature. He states that, the good poet cannot compose well unless he knows his subject, and he who does not have this knowledge can never be a poet. His point is that in order to copy or imitate correctly, one must have knowledge of the original. Plato says that imitation is twice removed from the truth. Stories that are untrue have, no value, as no untrue story should be told in the city. He states that nothing can be learned from imitative poetry.

Plato’s commentary on poetry in Republic is overwhelming negative. Plato’s main concern about poetry is that children’s minds are too impressionable to be reading false tales and misrepresentation of the truth. He is essentially saying that children cannot tell the difference between fiction and reality and this compromises their ability to discern right from wrong. Plato reasons that literature that portrays the gods as behaving in immoral ways should be kept away from children, so that they will not be influence to act the same way.

Another objection is that it is often viewed as portraying either male dominance or female exploitation. Plato does not views may be deemed narrow-minded by today’s society, but one must remember that Plato lived over 2000 years ago. He probably wrote Republic with the best intentions for the people of his time. While his views on censorship and poetry may even seem outlandish today, Plato’s goal was to state what he judged to be the guidelines for a better human existence.

1.   Plato’s objection to Poetry from the point of view of Education:

§  In the ‘The Republic’ Book 2- He condemns poetry as fostering evil habits and vices in children. Homer’s epics were part of studies. Heroes of epics were not examples of sound or ideal morality. They were lusty, cunning and cruel- war mongers. Even Gods were no better. Thus he objected on the ground that poetry does not cultivate good habits among children.

2. Objection from Philosophical point of view:

§  According to Plato, Philosophy is far better than the Poetry because Philosophy deals with ‘Idea’ and Poetry is twice removed from ‘Original Idea’.

§  Plato says: “The imitator or maker of the image knows nothing of true existence; he knows appearance only …. The imitative art is an inferior who marries an inferior and has inferior offspring.”

3. Objection from the Moral point of view:

§  Plato verdicts that, “Poetry waters and nourishes the baser impulses of men- emotional, sentimental and sorrowful.

§  “Soul of man has higher principles of reason (which is the essence of its being) as well as lower constituted of baser impulses and emotions. Whatever encourages and strengthens and the rational principle is good, and emotional is bad.” – In his same Book- ‘Republic’.

These are Plato’s principles charges on poetry and objection to it. Before we pass on any judgment, we should not forget to keep in view the time in which he lived. During his time:

1. Political instability.

2. Education was in sorry state. Homer was part of studies- misrepresented.

3. Women were regarded inferior- slavery.

4. Best time of Greek literature was over- corruption and degeneration in literature.

5. Confusion prevailed in all sphere of life- intellect, moral, political and education.

Ø Example: philosophers and thinkers like Socrates were imprisoned, forces to drink wine and kill him.

Ø Now, let’s move to Aristotle; who defense Poetry in very generous way.

Plato confused the study of ‘aesthetic’ with the study of ‘morals’. Aristotle removed that confusion and created the study of aesthetics.

Plato was a great poet, a mystic and philosopher. Aristotle- the most distinguished disciple of Plato was a critic, scholar, logician and practical philosopher. The master was an inspired genius every way greater than the disciple except in logic, analysis and common sense.

He is known for his critical treatise: 1). The poetics and 2). The Rhetoric, dealing with art of poetry and art of speaking.

For centuries during Roman age in Europe and after renaissance, Aristotle was honored as a law-giver and legislator. Even today his critical theories remain largely relevant, and for this he certainly deserves our admiration and esteem.

But he was never a law-giver in literature. The poetics is not merely commentary or judgment on the poetic art. Its conclusion is firmly rooted in the Greek literature and is actually illustrated form it. He was a codifier; he derived and discussed the principles of literature as manifest in the plays and poetry existing in his own day.

His main concern appears to be tragedy, which in his day was considered to be the most developed form of poetry.

In his observations on the nature and function of poetry, he has replied the charges of Plato against poetry, wherein he partly agrees and partly disagrees with his teacher.

                       The nature of poetry: poetic inspiration: Theory of inspiration:

·      Aristotle agrees with Plato in calling the poet an imitator and creative art, imitation. He imitates one of the three objects – things as they were/are, things as they are said/thought to be or things as they ought to be. In other words, his imitation what is past or present, what is commonly believed and what is ideal. Aristotle believes that there is natural pleasure in imitation which is in-born instinct in men. It is this pleasure in imitation that enables the child to learn his earliest lessons in speech and conduct from those around him, because there is a pleasure in doing so. In grown up child – a poet, there is another instinct, helping him to make him a poet – the instinct for harmony and rhythm.

·      He does not agrees with his teacher in – ‘poet’s imitation is twice removed from reality and hence unreal/illusion of truth. To prove his point he compares poetry with history. The poet and the historian differ not by their medium, but the true difference is that the historian relates ‘what has happened?, the poet, what may/ought to have happened? – the ideal. Poetry, therefore, is more philosophical and a higher thing than the history, which expresses the particular, while poetry tends to express the universal. Therefore, the picture of poetry please all times.

·      Aristotle does not agree with Plato in function of poetry to make people weaker and emotional/too sentimental. For him, catharsis is ennobling and humble human being.

·      So far as moral nature of poetry is concerned, Aristotle believed that the end of poetry is to please; however, teaching may be given. Such pleasing is superior to the other pleasure because it teaches civic morality. So all good literature gives pleasure which is not divorced from moral lessons.

                       Conclusion: -

Plato judges poetry now from the educational standpoint, from the philosophical standpoint and the ethical one. But, he does not care to consider it from its own standpoint. He does not define its aims. He forgets that everything should be judges in terms of its own aims and objective its own critic of merit and demerit. We cannot fairly maintain that music is bad because it does not paint, or that painting is bad because it does not sing. Similarly, we cannot say that poetry is bad because it does not teach philosophy of ethics. If poetry, philosophy and ethics had identical function, how could they be different subjects? To denounce poetry because it is not philosophy or ideal is clearly absurd.

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