In a typical beginning for one of Plato’s dialogues, Socrates and Ion bump into each other on the street. Ion is on his way
home from a poetry and music contest in Epidaurus where he took first place, and Socrates is apparently wandering around.
Socrates says he envies Ion’s profession, for he must know poets’ meanings to be able to convey the poems’ meanings to others. Ion replies that he speaks better bout Homer than all the other
rhapsodes (poetry reciters). Socrates asks Ion to demonstrate that he does in fact speak better about Homer than all the others, and asks if Ion is as knowledgeable about other poets. Ion claims to only know Homer.
Socrates does not believe Ion, so he asks Ion if Homer and another poet spoke on the same subject, Ion could talk on them both equally well. Ion says that he could only do that if Homer and the other poet were in agreement on the subject; otherwise, he would state Homer’s ideas in a much better fashion. Socrates counters by demonstrating that Homer wrote about things all poets write about: war, gods, heroes, and human relationships.
Although the subject matter may have been the same, Ion argues that Homer wrote much better than all the others. Socrates answers that only a master of a subject could decide who spoke well and who spoke poorly on the subject, so Ion must be a master. Ion again demures, claiming that he is only a master of Homer. He confesses that he dozes off when rhapsodes talk about poets other than Homer and that he has nothing to contribute to those conversations.
Socrates answers that is you can describe what is good or bad about one person’s art, you should be able to recognize those same qualities in other people’s art. One poet’s work just makes up a small portion of poetry as a whole. Ion asks Socrates what is wrong with him if he does not have this ability.
The point Socrates has been driving at is that Ion is not really a master of Homer, but divinely
inspired. A Muse’s inspiration has a chain effect, like magnets. If a magnet attracts something, that thing becomes magnetic itself. Poets are not in their right minds when divinely inspired to right great poems, so it follows that good rhapsodes are attracted to the poems and thus inspired by the muse. The chain effect continues when audiences are deeply moved by the performance of the inspired poems by the inspired rhapsode
Ion admits that he is not in his right mind when he sings Homer’s poems, but feels as if he is there in the action of the poem. This is probably why the meaning is conveyed to audiences and he is so popular. He wants Socrates to prove that he is not in his right mind when he speaks of Homer. Socrates obliges by asking Ion if others might be more knowledgeable about things Homer writes about, such as charioteering or medicine. Wouldn’t professionals in those fields be able to attest to the accuracy of said passages than Ion who is only a rhapsode?
Ion counters by claiming rhapsodes are experts in what people say, which makes them knowledgeable about all things poets write. Socrates proves him wrong by asking Ion what he would say in certain situations that require professional knowledge, and Ion restates by saying that being a rhapsode is the same as being a general. Both rhapsodes and generals know what to say to motivate groups of people.
Socrates answers that if that were true, Ion would have been made a general already and that it is better to be divinely inspired than to do wrong by claiming to know things you do not. Ion finally agrees, and Socrates expresses envy and admiration that Ion is so divinely inspired.