1. Poetry imitates the shadow of the shadow, not the entity and the truth, "betrays the truth we believe" and is separated from the truth by two layers.
He said: "The poets in Homer's time are imitators of the image of virtue or other things they' created'. They don't have the truth at all, just the painter we just mentioned. " In the Law, he said more clearly: "We should take the truth as the standard of measurement, no matter what kind of interpretation we make of the truth, not anything else."
2. Second, poetry can easily arouse irrational elements in human nature and get rid of rational control.
Plato believes that the human soul consists of two parts: one is the highest part of the soul, that is, the rational part, only people.
Only by relying on rationality can we truly grasp the knowable world and understand and know the "phase" of justice, happiness, truth, goodness and beauty; One is the evil part of the soul, which is some irrational components. Therefore, citizens of Utopia must control their emotions with reason in order to make their lives better and happier.
Thirdly, starting with the education of teenagers, all poems that are not conducive to the healthy growth of teenagers should be banned from circulating in the city-state, and poets who create such poems should be deported.
He believes: "First of all, we should review the people who make up stories, accept good stories and reject bad stories. Then we should encourage nannies and mothers to tell their children the stories they have passed the exam, and use these stories to shape their hearts instead of their bodies with their hands. We have to give up most of the stories they are telling now. "