Summary of Mimesis by Plato

 The word Mimesis is greek which means imitation. Plato and Aristotle spoke of mimesis as the representation of nature. According to Plato, all the artistic creation is a form of imitation.

In his theory of Mimesis, Plato says that all art is mimetic by nature; art is an imitation of life. He believed that 'idea' is the ultimate reality. Art imitates idea and so it is imitation of reality. He gives an example of a carpenter and a chair. The idea of 'chair' first came in the mind of carpenter. He gave physical shape to his idea out of wood and created a chair. Thus painter's chair is twice removed from reality. Hence he believed that art is twice removed from reality. He gives first importance to philosophy as philosophy deals with the ideas whereas poetry deals with illusion. So to Plato, philosophy is superior to poetry. Plato rejected poetry as it is mimetic in nature on the moral amd philosophical grounds. 

Aristotle replied to the charges made by his guru Plato against poetry. He replied to them in his defence of poetry.

• Plato says that art being the imitation of the actual is removed from the truth. It only gives the likeness is always less than real. But Plato fails to explain that art also gives something more which is absent in the actual. Literature is not the exact reproduction of life in all its totality. It is the representation of selected events and characters necessary in a coherent action for the realization of the artist's purpose.
• Plato again says that art is bad because it doesn't inspire virtue, does not teach morality. But the function of art is to provide aesthetic delight, express emotions and represent life. If an artist succeds in pleasing us in the aesthetic sense, he is a good artist. There is no criterion to judge his work. These changes are defended by Aristotle in his Theory pf Catharsis.
• Plato judge poetry now from the educational standpoint, from the philosophical one and then from the ethical one. But he does not care to consider it from its own unique stanpoint. He does mot define its aims. To denounce poetry because it is not philosophical or ideal is clearly absurd.