Classical Criticism

1. General Discussion on
Plato’s Charges against Poetry
Sharayu Sonawane
Assistant Professor
Dept. of English
KTHH College, Nashik

2. Recap of the previous lecture
Short survey of literary criticism
Critical approaches/movements

3. Session agenda
About Classical period
Difference between classics
And classical
About Plato and his works
His charges against poetry

4. The Classical Period
Chunk 1

5. Objectives
To discuss the classical period
To throw light on Greek
and Roman literature

6. The classical period
Roughly 1200 BCE to 455 CE
Greek and Roman writing

7. Greek period
From 500 to 320 BCE
It is divided into three periods:
Archaic (till the end of the 6th century)
Classical (5th and 4th centuries BC)
Hellenistic (3rd century BC onward)

8. The Greek created poetry.
It was intended to be sung.
Myth was its subject.
It was about religion, gods and
heroic mortals.

9. Ancient poetry belongs to
Homer
Iliad and Odyssey
 Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides
Created tragedies.
Aristophanes created comedy

10. Reflection points
1. Who wrote Iliad ?
2. Who were famous Greek tragedians?

11. Plato and his works
Chunk 2

12. Objectives
To discuss the life of Plato
To focus on his works

13. Plato (427-348 BCE)
A philosopher and
Student of Socrates
Teacher of Aristotle

14. His works
Ion
the question of whether the rhapsode,
a performer of poetry,
gives his performance
on account of his skill and knowledge
or by virtue of divine possession.

15. Phaedrus
It is a dialogue between
Plato's protagonist, Socrates,
and Phaedrus, an interlocutor
in several dialogues.
 It revolves around the art of rhetoric.

16. Republic
It is Plato's best-known work.
They also discuss the theory of forms,
the immortality of the soul,
and the role of the philosopher
and of poetry in society.

17. Reflection points
1. What is Ion about?
2. What is rhapsode?
3. What is the name of Plato’s famous book?

18. Plato’s charges against poetry.
Chunk 3

19. Objective
1. To discuss Plato’s charges against poetry.

20. Plato’s charges against poetry
1. He found poetry
To be false and imitative.
Art is mere imitation.
It is thrice removed from the reality.

21. 2. He found poetry to be emotionally exciting
and morally corrupting.
Poetry as fostering evil habits and vices in society.
It promotes undesirable passions.

22. 3. He found poetry
to be unfavorable to his ideal state.
It must be excluded
from his ideal society.

23. Reflection points
1. What are the three charges of Plato?
2. Why did he find poetry false and imitative?
3. Why did he think that poetry is corrupting?
4. Why did he banish poets from his ideal state?

24. Assignment
Write a short note on
Plato’s charges against poetry.

25. Revision
Plato’s famous works.
His charges on poetry.
conclusion

26. Next lecture
Aristotle’s theory of imitation

27. Thank you.