Just Plato?
“But a man who has nothing more valuable than
what he has composed or written, who has spent his
time twisting words, sticking them together and pulling
them apart is rightly called a poet or a speech writer or
a maker of laws.”
~ Penelope Murray, Plato on Poetry, 11-12
“Poets are the legislators of the world.” ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley
Perhaps young Shelley read his Plato. This
Might tell us where he got his doctrine that
True poets make our laws. The man amiss
Is Plato. Sappho as a diplomat
Between the world of love and world of laws
Seems much more wise to anyone who thinks
About the politics of men because
Her poetry is true. It never blinks.
It captures passions universal, hot,
Compelling as a Plato never can.
The facts about us never come to nought.
Laws need the soul of woman and of man
Together, not through frigid logic split
From lust or heart with love. They just won’t fit.