Critically comment Poetry and unreality by Plato?

In Book X of The Republic, Plato establishes a debate regarding the usefulness and potentially negative effects of poetry. Within this dialogue, he asserts that "all poetical imitations are ruinous to the understanding of the hearers...hymns to the gods and praises of famous men are the only poetry which ought to be admitted into our State" (Plato 29, 36). He goes on to explain that this is because "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" (Plato 36). These statements offer a rather atypical viewpoint of poetry, and they therefore carry the potential to incite a critical situation in the reader. (A critical situation can be understood as any instance where one is forced to reexamine a commonly held or ingrained belief.) Hearing Plato's condemnation of poetry acts against the more common sentiment that poetry is one of the many tools at our disposal for learning. Confronted with these contrary views, the resultant tension forces the reader to scrutinize the nature of poetry and its purpose. However, these concepts are abstract, and as such cannot be addressed directly. Instead, the nature and purpose of poetry have to be examined through the only means available, namely concrete examples of the very poetry Plato critiques. Therefore, using Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, Plato's assertions can begin to be evaluated.