When the word wants to be a thing

In his discussion of poetry in The Republic, Plato claims that one who attempts to represent an object, in this case a bed, must necessarily be an imitator because only God can create the original, there is the maker of the bed, then one who represents the bed. The painter/poet (as one who attempts to represent) can only imitate things as they appear, not as they really are. The imitator is a “long way off from the truth, and can do all things because he lightly touches on a small part of them, and that part of an image.” (291)

Book X of The Republic, discussion between Glaucon and Socrates re: mistrust of poetry: “…the imitative poet implants an evil constitution, for he indulges the irrational nature which has no discernment of greater and less, but thinks the same thing at one time great and at another small—he is a manufacturer of images and is very far-removed from the truth.” (300)

“…poetry feeds and waters the passions instead of drying them up; she lets them rule, although they ought to be controlled, if mankind are ever to increase in happiness and virtue.” (301)