The essence of the debate between poetry and philosophy in Republic is who holds the power to educate the Athenian people. The theme of the Hades, which dominates the entire text, is a metaphor for the soul crisis of the Athenian people in their socio-historical development, providing a realistic context for the debate between poetry and philosophy. In addition to its educational function, poetry mirrors the natural reality of the human world, and its nature of imitation and change dictates that poetic education will be corrupted along with the crisis of the soul, and that philosophical education faces the same danger. Therefore, the real intention of the discussion about the debate between poetry and philosophy in Republic is not to win the victory of philosophy over poetry, but to make Athenians realize the dangerous situation of their souls by revealing the common crisis of poetry and philosophy, and to complete the purification of their souls by starting from the real world represented by poetic education and climbing toward the world of ideas. The relationship between poetry and philosophy will also move from strife to integration in this process.