Greetings,
Poetry and poets being, not what we know them today, but as the keeper of the
(orality) culture.
"When in the last third of his argument [against the poetic experience
(Republic)] Plato returns to the poet's case, the ambiguity between the
situation of the creative artist and of the actor or performer is maintained.
It is impossible to be sure which of them in any given sentence is more
prominently before the philosopher's eye. Considered as an 'orator', our
Platonic poet will prefer a style with a minimum of _mimesis_ and a maximum of
description. His indulgence in extreme forms of _mimesis_, extending even to
the growls and squeals of animals, will be in direct proportion to his
inferiority as a poet. And then Plato adds a comment which is in part a
stylistic analysis and in part a philosophical judgement: 'The dramatic-mimetic
mode involves all-various shapes of changes.' It is polymorphous and, we might
say, exhibits the characteristics of a rich and unpredictable flux of
experience. The descriptive mode cuts this tendency down to a minimum. ..."
(Havelock, Eric A., 'Preface to Plato', pp. 22-23)
Gotta love a good bibliography!
Marsha
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