Philosopher's Modification To Poetry

Taking Plato's The Republic III as the object of analysis,this thesis discusses the debates between the poets and the philosopher.It mainly deals with the 3 following issues:1)why did Plato want to delete the poetry?2)The philosopher's literature education;3)why did the philosopher uses lies in the city.The first part of the thesis deals with how Socrates modifies the traditional poetry.The poets are more influential than the philosopher while the philosopher is wiser.The main focus of the dispute between the philosopher and the poets is what kind of quality the guardians should have,and the conflict between philosophy and religion(or nomos)therein.The second part discusses the literature education in the city.Socrates distinguishes between imitation and narration,and defines the objects the guardians can imitate and the music forms they can hear.The last part explicates how the philosopher construct the mythological poetry.By introducing the notion of "noble lie",Socrates explained whether or not the falsehood should exist,and how it would function,in the city.Socrates explained the human equality(homogeneity)and natural difference(heterogeneity)with the" myths of earth" and the "metal mythology",two moieties of the "noble lie";consequently and correspondingly,he emphasized the importance of the fraternity and the legitimacy of "mind your own business".