He begins the execution of his attack rather tentatively, at least compared to the terms of his introduction. However, he goes on to attempt to demystify poetry’s effect through, as usual, rigorous logic. As I’m sure we can all see, his distaste is explicit. He begins his attack by stating that the “whole genre of poetry deforms its audience’s minds” (64). Plato is concerned with poetry because of the effect he fears it will have on the population of his ideal society. It is important to note that this selection ends his book, and thus leaves the reader with the clearest outlook on Plato’s ideal world.īook X of Plato’s Republic is by far the most direct attack on poetry that we see (as well as other forms of artistic representation, a term that we will be returning to in short order). Once you are familiar with the effects that he ascribes to poetry, the brunt of Book X will represent the logical progression of Plato’s thinking throughout his larger work, The Republic. In order to fully understand Plato’s methods and motives in Book X, you will first need to understand his project, as outlined in this post.
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