Essay Prompt: Plato’s Republic is an attempt to create a Utopian civilization in which no citizen will ever wrong another. One of the key components of his utopia is extreme censorship of poetry, particularly of the stories of Homer and Hesiod. For your assignment, your group will compose a collaborative essay with the following 3 sections:
In this section, introduce the problem. Explain Plato’s rules regarding poetic censorship. What does he want to censor and why? What needs to be removed from poetry and why? What kind of poetry is acceptable? What are his rules for ‘good’ poetry?
In this section, choose a passage from the Iliad that we have read in class and rewrite it using Plato’s rules for good poetry. This section should include the original passage as a reference.
A conclusion that contains 3 reflections, one from each student, that reflects on Plato’s rules, how they transform poetry. Each reflection should answer the following questions:
Is Plato right to censor poetry? Are his reasons good/valid reasons?
Will eliminating the aspects of poetry that Plato wants to eliminate help to create his perfect society? Why/why not?
Do we perhaps want/need poetry to show us the things that Plato wants to eliminate? Why/why not? Section 3:
Is divided into three subsections of 1-1.5 paragraphs.
Each subsection contains the reflection of a single student, that answers the questions listed above for section 3.
Each subsection has a heading with the name of the student reflecting.