The Poetics of Plato and T. S. Eliot

Paper Summary:

Through an examination of Plato's "Republic" and ""Ion" and T.S. Eliot's "Tradition and the Individual Talent" this paper attempts to compare Plato's and Eliot's views on poetry. The paper discusses how Plato saw poetry as a claim to truth that he rejected as a subjective interpretation of the world at best, falling further away from any knowledge claims with every successive interpretation. The paper then compares Plato's view with T.S. Eliot's view, which places poetry within a tradition that is informed by the past as well as the cultural present, a collectivity that mitigates the poet's subjective experiences and functions as an objective correlation between art and the world.

From the Paper:

"In the Ionic dialog, Plato examines the interpretation of poetry by the rhapsodes, and attempts to establish the grounds by which this interpretation is enacted. Through the character of Socrates, Plato interrogates Ion, a professional rhapsode; one who recites poetry for an audience and also interprets passages for them. Ion's ethos is established through his achievements, recently winning first prize at the festival of Asclepius at Epidaurus as well as being "crowned with a golden crown by the Homeridae" for how well he "embellished Homer". Ion proceeds to admit that, while he is an expert on Homer, he knows very little about other poets. As the poets often deal with much the same subject matter, Socrates exposes a problem with Ion's interpretation of these texts; he is not an expert qualified to critically assess the content of the works, only Homer's usage."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Eliot, T. S. "Tradition and the Individual Talent." The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. Vol. 1; 3rd Edition. Eds. Jahan Ramazani, Richard Ellman and Robert O'Clair. New York: Norton, 2003. pp. 941-947.
• Plato. "Ion." Classical Literary Criticis. Trans. Penelope Murray and T. S. Dorsch. London: Penguin Books, 2000. Pp. 1-14.
• Plato. "Republic." Classical Literary Criticism. Trans. Penelope Murray and T. S. Dorsch. London: Penguin Books, 2000. pp. 15-56.

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