By E. Douka Kabitoglou
Routledge; June 1990
Plato and the English Romantics tackles the problematic relationship between Platonic philosophy and Romantic poetry, between the intellect (Apollo) and the emotions (Dionysus). It looks above all at the daemonic `mania' or passionate intensity, where both philosophical and poetic discourse originate.
Plato's paradoxical choice of a dramatic (Dionysian) logos reminds us of the ritualistic and religious origins of both philosophy and poetry.
We see that the concern with self-knowledge for the purpose of transcending the self is common to both Platonic and Romantic texts, and that Plato's recognition of `the philosophical frenzy' finds an echo in Wordsworth's definition of passion as `highest reason' and Coleridge's evocation to `some Sun that shall unite Light and Warmth'.
These indications that the presence of the `heat' of feeling is inseparable from the `light' of thought demonstrates that the emotive and the intellectual faculties are not necessarily at odds, but can be united in the `passionate mind', capable of producing either philosophy or poetry.
Plato and the English Romantics shows that dialogue between `thinking' and `poetizing' is possible. Kabitoglou draws on contemporary critical theory, notably hermeneutics and deconstruction, to give many new insights into Platonic and Romantic texts.
Plato and the English Romantics
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