Literary Criticism Lecture 1: Classical Criticism & Plato
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Questions and Answers

What is the primary function of literary criticism?

  • To summarize the plot of a literary work
  • To analyze the author's life
  • To classify literary works by genre
  • To understand the importance and value of a literary work (correct)
  • What do different schools of literary criticism provide?

  • A single correct interpretation of a text
  • A set of rules to follow when reading
  • A historical context of a literary work
  • Lenses to reveal important aspects of a literary work (correct)
  • What is one of the ways literary criticism enhances our reading experience?

  • It helps us to understand the author's intentions
  • It provides a summary of the plot
  • It enhances our enjoyment of the literary work (correct)
  • It provides a historical context of the literary work
  • What is literature criticism concerned with?

    <p>The study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does literary criticism help us understand about a text?

    <p>The structure, context, and manipulation of the reader</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the relationship between authors, readers, and texts that literary criticism helps us understand?

    <p>The relationship between authors, readers, and texts</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary form in which Plato expounds his philosophy?

    <p>Dialogue form</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main criticism Plato levels against poetry?

    <p>It appeals to the weaker side of human mind</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is Plato's theory of Forms, according to the text?

    <p>The physical world is a reflection of the ideal world</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How does Plato view the physical world in relation to the ideal world?

    <p>The physical world is a shadowy reflection of the ideal world</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In which book of the Republic does Plato metaphorically express his theory of Forms?

    <p>The seventh book</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the name of the dialogue in which Plato expresses his views on art?

    <p>Phaedrus, Ion, and the Republic</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the significance of poetry in ancient Greece?

    <p>A tool for education and documentation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Where did the first recorded instances of literary criticism occur?

    <p>In the dramatic festivals of ancient Athens</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Who is credited with laying the foundations of Western philosophy?

    <p>Plato</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the significance of Aristophanes' play The Frogs?

    <p>It is a comedy that contains a literary critical discussion</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the relationship between Plato and Socrates?

    <p>Plato was the student of Socrates</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Who are the two major Greek philosophers and critics to be studied in this course?

    <p>Plato and Aristotle</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main purpose of Plato's allegory of the cave?

    <p>To explain the relationship between the physical world and the world of Forms</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the fire in the cave allegory represent?

    <p>The distraction from the true reality</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to Plato, what is the relationship between the objects in the physical world and the Forms?

    <p>The physical world is a copy of the Forms</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Why does Plato consider poetry to be an unreliable source of truth?

    <p>Because it imitates the imitation of the Forms</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the ultimate goal of the soul's journey, according to Plato?

    <p>To ascend to the world of Forms</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the role of the puppeteers in the cave allegory?

    <p>They stand for the forces of distraction and deception</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What aspect of the human psyche does poetry appeal to, according to Plato?

    <p>The irrational and illogical part of our psyche</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Why does Plato believe that poets should not present the gods as deceitful?

    <p>Because there is no lying poet in God</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to Plato, what is the source of inspiration for poets and rhapsodes?

    <p>Divine possession or the Muse</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does Plato compare poetry to?

    <p>A form of illogical madness or contagion</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What type of poetry does Plato allow in his ideal society?

    <p>Only hymns to the gods and praises of state heroes</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the effect of poetry on character, according to Plato?

    <p>It corrupts one's character</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    Plato and Literary Criticism

    • Plato is considered the initial formulater of the most fundamental questions of literary criticism.
    • Most of Plato's philosophy is presented in dialogue form, with Socrates as the main speaker.

    Accusations Against Poetry

    • Plato levels four accusations against poetry:
      • A. The falsity of the claims and representations of poetry regarding both gods and men.
      • B. Poetry appeals to the weaker, inferior side of our mind/soul (or psyche).
      • C. Poetry has a corruptive effect on character.
      • D. Poetry is a kind of madness or contagion.

    The Falsity of Poetry

    • In the Republic, Plato views poetry as a falsifying rhetorical activity and a danger to his ideal city.
    • According to Plato, the physical world is not independent or real, but is dependent on the realm of pure Forms or ideas.
    • Any object in the physical world is derived from the ideal Forms.
    • Plato metaphorically expresses his theory of Forms in the "myth of the cave".

    The Myth of the Cave

    • The myth of the cave is an allegory where people are imprisoned in a cave, unable to turn their heads, and can only see shadows of reality cast by a fire.
    • The cave represents the physical world, and the journey towards the light is the "soul's ascension" to the world of Forms.
    • Everything in our world is a pale copy of the perfect, unchanging originals (Forms) that dwell above in the unseen world.

    Poetry as Imitation

    • When a poet describes a chair or writes a poem about love, he is not imitating the Form of the chair or of love, but the earthly imitation of this ideal.
    • Poetry, therefore, is twice removed from reality (the Forms) because it imitates what is already an imitation.
    • Thus, it is an unreliable source of truth and can only lead astray those who study it.

    Literary Criticism

    • Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature.
    • It includes the classification by genre, analysis of structure, and judgement of value.
    • Literary criticism helps us to understand what is important about the text: its structure, its context, what is written, and how the text manipulates the reader.

    Classical Literary Criticism

    • The story of Western literary criticism begins in ancient Greece with the great tragedies and comedies.
    • Poets, philosophers, rhetoricians, grammarians, and critics laid down many of the basic terms, concepts, and questions that were to shape the future of literary criticism.
    • The first recorded instances of criticism go back to dramatic festivals in ancient Athens.
    • A particularly striking literary critical discussion occurs in Aristophanes' play The Frogs, first performed in 405 BC.

    Poetry and the Psyche

    • Plato attacks poetry for being fanciful, engaging the irrational part of the soul that is both illogical and unreliable.
    • This irrational part of the soul is disorderly, unstable, and induces us to partake in public displays of emotion.

    Poetry and Character

    • In the Republic, Socrates stresses that poets must not present the gods as deceitful, and only hymns to the gods and praises of state heroes will be allowed.
    • All other forms of poetry must be censored.

    Poetry and Madness

    • Plato asserts that poets do not write nor rhapsodes speak by art or skill, but by "divine possession".
    • The Muse inspires the poet, who in turn passes on this inspiration to the rhapsode, who produces an inspired emotional effect on the audience.

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    Description

    This quiz covers the basics of literary criticism, its definition, and its application to classical literature, with a focus on Plato's contributions.

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