Some ancient Greek philosophers, particularly Plato, vilified poets and poetry as harmful nonsense. In The Republic, Plato denied poets entry into his " ideal state " until they could prove their value. In Ion, Plato famously portrayed poets as possessed: Aristotle differed with his predecessor , Plato, about the worth of poetry. Both saw art as an act of mimesis, but where Plato  saw a pale, essentially false , imitation of reality, Aristotle saw the possibility of truth in imitation. As critic David Richter points out, "For Aristotle, artists must disregard incidental facts to search for deeper universal truths." Thus, instead of being essentially false, poetry may be universally true.David Richter, The Critical Tradition, 1997, p. 57.
 In The Republic, Socrates denies poets entry into his " just city set up in speech " until they can prove their value. In Ion, Plato famously portrays poets as possessed: Aristotle differed with his teacher , Plato, about the worth of poetry. Both saw art as an act of mimesis, but where Plato at times saw a pale, essentially false imitation of reality, Aristotle saw the possibility of truth in imitation. As critic David Richter points out, "For Aristotle, artists must disregard incidental facts to search for deeper universal truths." Thus, instead of being essentially false, poetry may be universally true.David Richter, The Critical Tradition, 1997, p. 57.
D
Some ancient Greek philosophers, particularly Plato, vilified poets and poetry as harmful nonsense.
R
Plato denied
Socrates denies
R
ideal state
just city set up in speech
R
could
can
R
portrayed
portrays
R
predecessor
teacher
A
at times
D
,