Poetry

What can a philosopher have to say about poetry? One may rightly be skeptical of the chances of success of such an endeavor. After all, philosophers and poets have been butting heads for over 2,500 years. Ever since Plato challenged the poets for the meaning of their works in the Ion, and excluded nearly all poetry from his ideal city in the Republic, philosophers have been trying to show that they are better, at least where the acquisition and conveyance of knowledge are concerned. Truth be told, poets have seldom taken much notice of philosophers’ attacks. ¹ By the time the quarrel started, poets had long been the sage guardians of their communities’ knowledge; as Socrates and Plato well knew, it would not be easy to dethrone Homer. That said, philosophy’s attack on poetry was timely. Philosophers would not have had a chance in the time of Homer himself (whoever he was), or even for centuries afterwards; but by Socrates’ time, the power of poetry as arbiter and conveyor of values was waning, and sophists as well as philosophers had a fighting chance to take its place—though they attacked the lesser rival, the rhapsode, rather than the poet himself. ²