Philopoiêtai, Poetry Lovers from Time Immemorial
“Plato’s Symposium shows how Plato deploys dramatic irony to undermine philopoiêtai’s
use of poetry. Elizabeth Belfiore (“Poets and the Symposium”) argues that the dialogue’s first
five symposiasts, in their poetic citations, reveal their failure to think about anything other
than the charm of their context-shorn quotations.” ~ http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/plato-and-the-
poets/
Just what is wrong with charm? And why not love
The poetry that charms with sweetness, light,
And fragrance like gardenias? Must verse shove
A darkness and a weight on readers, blight
Their joys, or make them think so deeply that
Do they find themselves at midnight and distress?
We have the horror genres with their splat
Of gore and blood, and Hollywood’s black mess
Of crime and lust and death. Why shouldn’t we
Have fun just reading beauty that beguiles
Us for a moment? Why shouldn’t we be
Free to wink through happiness and smiles?
Philosophers may favor sackcloth verse,
But nothing’s wrong with charm. There is far worse.