Plato's Dilemma

Plato did not like poets. They twist and distort reality, he said. Furthermore, claimed the ancient Greek philosopher, instead of advancing reason, poets incite passions. Consequently, Plato wanted to banish poets from his ideal state as he envisioned it in his "Republic". Nevertheless, the philosopher himself was not immune from passions and he fell in love with Stella. "Thee stare at the stars, my star! " he wrote to her in a poem, "I wish to be those stars myself as countless eyes so that I might stare at thee." Plato's genius, his towering imagination and powerful, incisive intellect, combined with his wide use of metaphors in poetically presented dialogues, created an enduring and inspired philosophy, wherein, as he stated, "Time is the moving image of eternity." I think from all this it is quite evident that Plato was a poet. Therefore now, the question rises: If he had been consistent, would he have extended the banishment from the Republic also to himself?