The Poetikos, which should really be written with its Greek accents as poētikōs
most dictionaries will tell you that it simply means “poets” and “poetry”, and that therefore it was only people who wrote verse that Plato wanted to banish from The Republic; but the word actually means “active”, and a poētikus (that’s the masculine singular; poētika if it’s a her) is therefore somebody who has switched the brain fully on, and is using it as actively as possible: writers of literature of all sorts, not just poetry, but even more the serious thinkers, the philosophers and scientists and those engaged in moving on from Key Stage 1 (mythology), to Key Stage 2 (metaphysics), and then further still, into Key Stages 3 and even 4, the realm of epistemology, of Bloom’s Taxonomy, of... now you can see who Plato really wanted to banish from his Republic, and why.
The list below includes all the above, plus the Musical Maestros and the Illustrious Illustrators, as well as those who engage in the theatrical world, though there are also scales for these things: after all, a man who takes more than 100 shots to get around a 9-hole pitch-and-putt course, on the same day that Tiger Woods shoots 64 at the Masters, is still by definition a golfer; every one on this list – with one exception, for which see the kóntra-poētikōs below - is by definition of their engagement a poētikus in some degree, and many are fully accredited.
You will also note that I have created a separate list for the Reverend Writers, as these may well have reached Key Stage 3 or even 4, and they may well have chosen the cloth because it was the only avenue available to them in their time and social structure, and they well be non-conformists or even heretic-blasphemers, but still they stayed in, and so they are also committed in some degree to Key Stage 1
And speaking of the non-conformists, there is the poētikōs, but there is also the other side, the ones beloved of Plato, those who accept passively, or even collaborate actively, in their own bullying and coercion, the ones who switch their brains into neutral, and believe, and do, whatever they are told: that too comes in many forms, and that too is included here. I am calling them the kóntra-poētikōs, but this blog is first-and-foremost about the positives of history, and so you will find many examples of those men and women who fought back against bullying and coercion, each in their very different ways: explanation of this comes with the sub-sections of that page
So this theme is broken down as follows:
a) The Philosophers (including the psycho-quacks)
b) The Poets
c) The serious scribes (novellas and short-stories included, but also those who enable the scribes)
d) The lighter writers
f) The reverend writers
g) The world as stage
but there are many ways of engaging the brain in a positive and active manner (rather than just learning teacher’s notes off-by-heart and regurgitating them in a test!)
h) The educators
i) The historians (including the archeologists and the anthropologists and even some journalists)
k) The musical maestros
and of course
l) The pursuers of E, M & C2
m) The political ideologues (many of whom, actually most of whom, sadly turn out to be Platonists)
and finally
n) Responses to bullying and coercion (the poētikōs, but sadly, mostly, also the kóntra-poētikōs)
