Plato on Poetry

This is a commentary on selected texts of Plato concerned with poetry: the Ion and relevant sections of the Republic. It is the first commentary to present these texts together in one volume, and the first in English on Republic 2 and 3 and Ion for nearly 100 years. The introduction sets Plato's views in their Greek context and outlines their influence on later aesthetic thought. An important feature of the commentary is its exploration of the ambivalence of Plato's pronouncements through an analysis of his own skill as a writer.
This is a 1996 commentary on selected texts of Plato concerned with poetry: the Ion and relevant sections of the Republic.
"The value of Murray's book...lies above all in the encouragement which it gives those able to read Plato in the original to undertake a concentrated and connected reconsideration of the literary details of the three central Platonic texts on poetry. Her commentary...is consistently sensitive, reliable, and balanced in its judgements...anyone who wants to get close to the fine grain of Plato's arguments in these three important texts will be helped as well as stimulated by the information and guidance offered by Murray's book." International Journal of the Classical Tradition