ng helps Plato to make his argument even more concrete, Shelley uses essay form to portray his ideas somewhat in response to beliefs like those of Plato.Shelley’s writing differs in form from Plato’s in that Shelley’s is more straight forward and seems almost as if it were meant to be preached. “Reason is to the imagination as the instrument to the agent, as the body to the spirit, as the shadow to the substance.” (429) The analogy that Shelley uses portrays that reason is the basis of the imagination, implying that poetry holds truth, yet it is an idealized truth, which is determined by Plato in The Republic to be essentially false. Shelley uses a similar metaphor of a mirror, as did Plato. “Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted.” (431) While Shelley is trying to defend poetry, he is still representing is as an image, just as Plato had. Plato uses this mirror symbol more successfully in that he makes the assertion that that in which is imitated, as is a mirror image, is far from the truth. Shelley only states that the image (poetry) is more beautiful than the truth, which is distorted. Plato and Shelley both portray their ideas of poetry through rhetorical devices but Plato’s argument is much more solid. Because of his Socratic writing form and effective use of metaphors, Plato’s devices persuasively outweigh Shelley’s form, analogies and metaphors. ...
