Thursday, December 6, 2012

The Censorship of Poesy

So, I am yet again sitting up writing a paper that will probably take me the majority of the night to finish. I had forgotten I had to blog until I was looking for something to help me procrastinate with, and then i remembered, with 15 minutes to spare. Over the semester, as I've contemplated what I was going to write the final paper on, my mind kept coming back to the subject I finally settled on, Proving Plato Wants to Banish the Poets from the City. At first, I was going to write the paper completely tongue-in-cheek. And up until about 2 o'clock in the morning that was the direction the paper was headed. Then I really started to get into what I was doing, which was removing from The Iliad what Plato wanted to censor. And I realized that there really would be no poetry left and the poets would not be allowed in the city. And it made me wonder what it would be like to not have poetry in the world. Granted, I'm not a huge poetry fan, but I do appreciate it. And besides, when Plato is talking about the poets and poetry, he's really talking about all literature. Life without literature would not be a life I would want to live! I don't know how I could handle not having literature in my life! And now, as I sit here, working on a paper for a Literature class, I'm beginning to wonder what would happen if the works I am focusing on were censored the same way Plato wanted to censor them. Then I remember that I actually need to write my paper, so I try not to let it distract me.
Tantum e tenebris receptum constabit,
May everyone have a wonderful Finals week and a Merry Christmas!!
Meghan Johnston!
PS - I commented on Emily's blog
PPS - 2 minutes to spare! :)

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