Poetry and art illuminate the world and all its untouched senses. Art connects to a realm of foreign sovereignty that takes us into a society of freedom. Whereas poetry illustrates a whole new form within the individual mind; it adds color to that which we choose not to see. Poetry is the art that provides the lenses to our souls. So when the arts and individualism is threatened, people will oppose and a war will begin. If ever people allowed for a republic of no poetry and art, then Plato will receive precisely what he wanted-partly, at least. His interpretation of a whole new societal foundation has been seen in modern events, such as WWII and its most notorious dictator and occupant, Adolf Hitler. A world filled with art is a threat to the very thing people like Plato and Hitler sought to accomplish: the end of individualism in order to provide form and “unity.” However, the creative arts, be they poetry, painting, or anything of the like, they are not going anywhere and people’s voices will continue to be heard through all forms connective abilities.
Plato describes both in Ion and in The Republic the use of poetry and how it should be done if it will be used by poets. He first describes the idea of poetry being three times removed from the original idea that comes from the realm of ideas. For example, the thought of building a certain table derived from this abstract world of inspirations (realm of ideas) that made its way into the carpenter, then once the carpenter built the table (idea on earth) a painter creates a canvas of the table (mimic of the ideal); through this process the artist becomes removed from the original idea. Due to this, Plato finds that poets use of imitation of nature or any other insight poses a threat to people because it can influence them of falsities; poetry is not true and deranged because it is too far removed from the original idea (realm of ideas). Mimesis, for Plato, is like a kind of mirror for all things around us, and if poetry sought to mimic it could never be an exact copy of the original because the ideal is in the things themselves and not in the written form of them (the ideal is in the table, not in the painting). The value of a piece of art lies within how well it can mimic the idea.
Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian sand animator who won the 2009 Ukraine’s Got Talent through the use of sand, lighting and the ability to tell a story that she so chooses to tell. The video shown above is the story of the German occupation in Ukraine during WWII and the relationship between a man and a woman torn apart by war. Simonova uses imitation in its clearest form through the portray of a totalitarian invasion and a basic concept that Plato believed in-which was the removal of the arts because there was fear of influential uprise and that only a certain group of people should rule while everyone else was meant to be where they were stationed. Nonetheless, Simonova does an extraordinary job at illustrating an idea that is probably about four times removed from the original idea of suppression and hate. She not only imitates the state of country under the ideal of Plato’s republic, but also that of love, pain and birth; none of which can be considered an idea, therefore, there can be no inaccuracy behind it if it were being imitated. Was Hitler’s idea at any form an imitation? If so, does that count as mimic of the ideal three times removed?
Plato wanted to have the perfect city ruled by the philosopher kings who would empower philosophy and those who followed it. Plato’s republic, Kallipolis, would eliminate the individual, the need for family reliance, private property and poetic theology in order to provide independence. All these “mushy” concepts people had (and still do have) pose a danger to philosophy, so the most logical thing Plato could formulate was to abolish them. How this was seen as acceptable by the intellectuals is still a question to answer, but Plato believed that the individual should not rule (hence Hitler) rather that the academic thinkers should rule.
Plato. "Republic". Trans. Penelope Murray and T.S. Dorsch. Classical Literary Criticism.
London: Penguin Books, 2004.
Plato. "Ion". Trans. Penelope Murray and T.S. Dorsch. Classical Literary Criticism.
London: Penguin Books, 2004.
