My Mistake

I thought I had been posting all along and am afraid I wasn't.  That being said, hear are my condensed thoughts... 

When all of these philosophies are taken into consideration they are all valid, correct, and appropriate in different contexts.

Plato is harsh in his opinion of poetry, yet is still inconsistent.  He devalues rhetoric because it arouses emotion making us "incapable of judging and reflecting on the performances we are experiencing," but depends on rhetoric to convince us he's right. 

Gorgias and the Sophists further Plato's issues with rhetoric by arguing everything is relative.  Without absolutes any argument can be proven one way or the other.  In other words everything can mean anything depending on your experience, or which way you choose to view it.

Aristotle takes a different approach on poetry than Plato, and says it isn't "inspired."  He says poetry can be structured and reasoned, but following his prescription for poetry doesn't allow for much creative influence.  Aristotle allows us the process of catharsis.  We are able to purge our emotional distresses of everyday life through poetry, which may otherwise be too great a burden. 

Longinus says "the true sublime uplifts our souls; we are filled with a proud exaltation and a sense of vaunting joy, just as though we had ourselves produced what we had heard." He says writing should touch your soul, and be moving, then says, "you may take it that sublimity in all its truth and beauty exists in such works as please all men at all times."  I have to ask my self if this is possible. 

All-in-all, the most important thing is to find a balance in all of these philosophies.  There is good that can be taken away from all of this.  Do I choose for myself?  Or let them choose for me?