Page 10 - GALIET THE TORCH, THE GODDESS: On Poesy Plato IV

Heraclea,”3 which could either be interpreted as the purest Form or the Muse 3⁄4 whereby it attracts and links the iron rings, one by one, in the same manner as the Form magnetizes and inspires the poet who in turn is linked to and inspires the interpreter who further inspires the audience. In addition to Socrates’ struggle on poetics, we also have Socrates’ assertion that poetry, since “it makes images” (601c), imitates nature and, therefore, is twice removed from the essence of its true Form. Undoubtedly, we are faced with a complex contradiction, for Socrates, in implying, first, that poetry is linked with a magnetic force to that which is Divine, cannot possibly claim it is an imitation of the Form. Consequently, I believe that Plato, by arguing with his own fictitious characters, struggles, beautifully, with his own paradoxes and contradictions between the earthly and the heavenly, the imperfect and perfect, the unreal and the real. The very fact that Plato chooses to be absent from his own dialogues by speaking through Socrates, leads us to “believe” that he faces an intimate struggle with his “self” which is the very essence of poetry. I believe that Plato not only dwells in the essence of poetry, but subtly, indirectly and he, unaware, defends it, for his dialogues, whether born out of divine inspiration or earthly struggle, are indeed poetic.
3 Benjamin Jowett, trans. The Dialogues of Plato. Great Books of the Western World. Volume 7. Chicago:
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 1952. 142–148
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