| dc.description.abstract | This thesis compares Percy Bysshe Shelley’s A Defence of Poetry with Plato’s Ion and Republic, particularly examining how Shelley’s theory of poetry is influenced by Plato. It is prima facie interesting that Shelley can borrow from Plato in an essay titled A Defence of Poetry because of Plato’s notorious criticism of poetry. Furthermore, specifying how Shelley’s and Plato’s views compare may lead to a better understanding of the Defence. If one takes the Defence to contain Shelley’s theory of poetry (as I do), grasping Shelley’s stance may help in interpreting his oeuvre.
Shelley’s Defence refers overtly to Plato regarding terminology, but there are important differences in content. Shelley believes poetry to have a much more beneficial role in society than Plato does. In fact, Plato argues imitative poetry to lead to moral corruption, whereas Shelley views poetry as an instrument to moral virtue. Furthermore, Shelley’s poet possesses a combination of traits that Plato divides among his poet and philosopher. This is a crucial difference. For Plato, poets are inferior to philosophers because they are concerned with emotion (as opposed to reason). There is no such distinction between poets and philosophers in A Defence of Poetry. Shelley’s poet is much more like a poet-philosopher.
Ultimately, Shelley values imagination above reason, whilst Plato values reason above all else. This is the fundamental difference between Shelley’s theory of poetry and Plato’s. | |
