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PlatoIon
Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | AdultA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Magnets
Socrates’s anecdote about magnets serves as a symbol of inspiration. Socrates notes how a magnet “not only pulls those rings, if they’re iron, it also puts the power in the rings so that they, in turn, can do what the stone does—pull other rings” (941). By analogy, because poetic inspiration comes from the gods, it is so powerful that it can move multiple people, albeit in different ways and with different force. Socrates notes “Just as if it hung from that stone, there’s an enormous chain of choral dancers and dance teachers and assistant teachers hanging off to the sides of the rings that are suspended from the Muse” (943). This metaphor reflects Plato’s understanding of art as several “removes” from reality. The further one gets from the magnet, the weaker the magnetic force. As one gets further from the source of the inspiration (the gods), one gets further from reality, truth, or knowledge.
Being “Not in One’s Right Mind”
For the ancient Greeks, the capacity to reason is what makes us human; it distinguishes us from all the other animals. Reason is responsible for humans’ ability to do math, use language, and think about the future. But reason has limits. There is emotion, passion, and creative spirit. Plato’s systems of thought are dualistic, meaning that he uses either/or concepts that place things in one category and not another, like body/soul, good/bad, reason/emotion, and human/divine. Because art and poetry are the results of divine inspiration, they must use no reason at all. This is why Socrates frequently speaks of poetry in the following way: “For a poet is an airy thing, winged and holy, and he is not able to make poetry until he becomes inspired and goes out of his mind and his intellect is no longer in him” (942). Thus, being “out of one’s mind” is necessary for producing art because art does not comply with the rules of logic, which for Plato implies that art must have some source other than the human.
The Muses
In ancient Greek mythology, there are nine Muses, or goddesses who have power over art and the creative process. The Muses are the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. Each Muse has her domain, such as Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry; Clio, the Muse of history; Terpsichore, the Muse of dance; and Thalia, the Muse of comedy. The Muses’ creative gifts also extend to other disciplines like literature and science. The Muses were often invoked through prayer at the beginning of epic poems like Homer’s The Odyssey. In “Ion,” Socrates and Ion discuss how the Muses have the power to take away one’s mind or intellect and speak through a person to deliver a divine message that takes the form of some kind of poetry. More generally, the Muses symbolize artistry and creativity, putting them at odds with reason, intention, and practical skill. When the Muses are mentioned in “Ion,” it is to establish that poetry is more divine than human and therefore of little practical use.
Related Titles
By Plato
