Throughout the Republic Plato condemns art in all forms including literature or poetry. Despite the fact that he wrote, Plato advocates the spoken word over the written word. He ranks imitation (mimetic representation) on a lower plane than narrative, even though his own works read like scripts (the Republic is written in dialogue form with characters doing all the talking). It appears as though his reasoning is that imitation of reality is not in itself bad, but imitation without understanding and reason is. 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 feel

Plato's 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. The merit in Plato's arguments is demonstrated by the fact his philosophies on poetry are still studied by scholars around the world today.

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