English 610—British Romanticism

Professor
J. Jennifer Jones

An Introduction to Longinus’s On the Sublime

Longinus identifies the components of sublimity from the beginning of his essay and illustrates the effects of them in grand passages and expressions from poetry and oration. Before he elaborates on the elements of sublimity, he first explicates certain factors of writing that can lead to a failure as one tries to write a sublime passage. He compares writings that achieve sublimity with those that do not, demonstrating the effects of the constituents of the sublime in the examples. Later in his essay, Longinus draws us to look at the overall impression of one’s work: “[W]hich is the better in poetry and in prose, grandeur flawed in some respects, or moderate achievement accompanied by perfect soundness and impeccability? And again: is the first place in literature rightly due to the largest number of excellences or to the excellences that are greatest in themselves?”(267). Longinus gives us a clear answer to this: “. . . what is useful or necessary is easily obtained by man: it is always the unusual which wins our wonder” (277).

Longinus writes, “Invariably what inspires wonder, with its power of amazing us, always prevails over what is merely convincing and pleasing” (164). Sublimity does not simply persuade, convince, or please; it gives a powerful impression on us in an instant. In the beginning, Longinus is interested in the proper experience of the reader of the sublime. He points out that “. . . it cannot really be the true sublime, if its effect does not outlast the moment of utterance. For what is truly great bears repeated consideration” (179). Regardless of taste, age, and time, the readers should give a “unanimous verdict” (Longinus 181).

Longinus states that the rules comprising sublimity are systematic. The sublime does not have characteristics of “tumidity,” “puerility,” and “pseudo-bacchanalian” (Longinus171-3). Tumidity is a characteristic that tries to “outdo” the sublime but results in giving an insincere feeling whereas puerility is “the exact opposite of grandeur; utterly abject, mean spirited” and is often an “overelaboration” (Longinus169). He categorizes frigidity as one aspect of puerility, and notes that writers fall into frigidity when they do not notice their fault as they criticize others. According to Longinus, Timaeus commits this error when he tries to praise Alexander the Great: “. . . ‘one who subdued the world of Asia in fewer years than Isocrates took to write his Panegyric urging war on Persia ’ ” (Longinus173). Timaeus must have taken it for granted that fighting in war should have been more difficult than writing, but Longinus notices the absurdity of the comparison as he writes another sentence that the logic could produce: “. . . Isocrates was far better man than the Spartans, since they spent thirty years in subduing Messene , while he composed his Panegyric in no more than ten!” (Longinus173). Pseudo-bacchanalian is “emotion misplaced and pointless where none is needed, or unrestrained where restraint is required” (171). Emotion that is not pertaining to the subject is the case. Through out the essay, Longinus stresses that all the devices that aim at sublimity should be associated with proper emotion.

Longinus sets up five constituents of sublimity: “grand conceptions,” “the inspiration of vehement emotion”, “the proper construction of figures,” “the nobility of language, which again may be resolved into choice of words and the use of metaphor and elaborated diction”, and “dignified and elevated word-arrangement” (181). All the components depend on the “genuine emotion in the right place” (Longinus183). Grand conception can be thought as a “heroic theme,” such as the theme of Homer’s Illiad where many sublime passages can be found, for they are written with powerful emotion, giving the sense of reality (Longinus197).

Longinus remarks that visualization could also contribute to sublimity. Visualization could be accomplished when you are able to describe “vividly” with appropriate emotion, and he claims that “the most perfect effect of visualization in oratory is always one of reality and truth” (217-223). The use of visualization in oratory is “to introduce a great deal of excitement and emotion into one’s speeches, but when combined with factual arguments it not only convinces the audience, it positively masters them” (Longinus 223).

Longinus continues to expound on several figures that lead to sublimity. Longinus understands apostrophe as a useful device as he cites Demosthenes’s statement: “ ‘You were not wrong, you who undertook that struggle for the freedom of Greece, and you have proof of this at home, for neither were the men at Marathon misguided nor those at Salamis nor those at Plataea’ ” (227). Longinus illustrates that “by employing the single figure of adjuration – which I here call apostrophe – he has deified the ancestors by suggesting that one should swear by men who met such a death, as if they were gods; he has filled his judges with the spirit of those who risked their lives there; he has transformed a demonstrative argument into a passage of transcendent sublimity and emotion. . .” (227). Longinus writes, “[T]he oath is carefully designed to suit the feelings of defeated men, so that the Athenians should no longer regard Chaeronea as a disaster . . .” (230). Yet, Longinus notes that “ a figure is always most effective when it conceals the very fact of its being a figure” because people will notice that they are “outwitted,” and they will be “conditioned against being persuaded by the speech” (231). In order to conceal, “sublimity and emotional intensity” should accompany the figure (Longinus 231).

The figure of inquiry and interrogation is “the inspiration and quick play of the question and answer” (Longinus 235). Longinus states that interrogation is useful, “For emotion is always more telling when it seems not to be premeditated by the speaker but to be born of the moment; and this way of questioning and answering one’s oneself counterfeits spontaneous emotion” (235).

The figure of asyndeton [the omission of injunctions from constructions in which they would normally be used] is a way to make “. . . the phrases tumble out unconnected in a sort of spate, almost too quick for the speaker himself” (Longinus 235). Taking Xenophon’s expression for example, “ ‘they pushed, fought, slew, fell,’ ” Longinus points out that “The phrases being disconnected, and yet none the less rapid, give the idea of an agitation which both checks the utterance and at the same time drives it on” (236). In addition, he illustrates that “The combination of several figures often has an exceptionally powerful effect. . . ”: “ ‘By his manner, his looks, his voice, when he strikes with insult, when he strikes like an enemy. . .’ ” (237). Longinus remarks that the writer “preserves the essence of his repetitions and asyndeta through continual variation, so that his very order is disordered and equally his disorder involves a certain element of order” (237).

The figure of hyperbaton “consists in arranging words and thoughts out of the natural sequence, and is, as it were, the truest mark of vehement emotion” (Longinus 239). Longinus points out that hyperbata is a technique to assume the appearance of nature, “For art is only perfect when it looks like nature and Nature succeeds only when she conceals latent art” (241). Longinus notes that the speech in Herodotus is the case of hyperbata: “ ‘Our fortunes stand upon a razor’s edge, men of Ionia , whether we be free men or slaves, aye, and runaway slaves. Now therefore if you are willing to endure hardship at the moment there is toil for you, but you will be able to overcome your enemies’ ” (241). Longinus states that the order of the words would originally be: “ ‘O men of Ionia , now is the time for you to endure toil, for our fortunes stand upon a razor’s edge’ ” (241). Longinus explains that this is to give the impression that the speaker is driven by emotion, and that it is not “premeditated” as he states his fear first before he addresses the audience and as the reason is given first before he conveys his point, which is they should “toil” (241).

Longinus also considers the figure of Polyptota [plurals], and the “contraction of plurals to singulars” to be useful for sublimity(243-7). Using polyptota can make happiness or misfortunes greater, and the contraction can reflect “solidity” and “surprise” such as in Demosthenes’ statement “. . . ‘when Phrynichus produced his Capture of Miletus the theatre burst into tears’ ” (Longinus 247).

Furthermore, writing past events in present tense and “change of person”[Longinus is referring to the use of “you”] provides an impression of “vivid actuality” (Longinus 247). Periphrasis [circumlocution] can give the effect of grandeur but should be used “with a sense of proportion” (Longinus 257). Regarding the right choice of words, “. . . a common expression some times proves far more vivid than elegant language. Being taken from our common life it is immediately recognized, and what is familiar is thereby the more convincing” (Longinus 259). To avoid conspicuousness of using a lot of metaphors “strong and timely emotion and genuine sublimity” should be included because the reader will be overcome by “the excitement of the speaker” (Longinus 261-3). Hyperbole can be useful too, and as Longinus states, “[T]he best hyperbole is the one which conceals the very fact of its being a hyperbole. And this happens when it is uttered under stress of emotion to suit the circumstances of a great crisis” (283).

Lastly, Longinus goes on to expound on the arrangement of words. He points out that Demosthenes’s statement relies on dactyls, which he thinks are the “noblest of rhythms”: “ ‘This decree made the peril at that time encompassing the country pass away like as a cloud’ ” (287). Longinus remarks, “[T]hat is why the most beautiful of all known metres, the heroic, is composed of dactyls” (289). Longinus also brings Euripides’s phrase into discussion: “Speaking of Dirce being torn apart by the bull, he says, ‘And if perchance it happened/ To twist itself around, it dragged them all,/ Woman and rock and oak, and juggled with them’ ” (291). Longinus views that “it gains additional force from the fact that the rhythm is not hurried along or, as it were running on rollers, but the words prop one another up and are separated by intervals, so that they stand firm and give the impression of stable grandeur” (291-3). Longinus does not think that “agitated rhythm, pyrrhics, for instance, and trochees, and dichorees” are useful devices in a grand passage as they give a “cheap” and “monotonous” impression on the audience, drawing their attention away to the rhythm (293). Longinus finally notes that one attempting at sublimity should avoid being too concise in describing and yet should not go so far as to include all the “trivial words” (295). What he means by “trivial words” is to bring all the unnecessary description into the discussion while he can refer to the details by using a “comprehensive description” (Longinus 297).

Beau La Rhee
University of Rhode Island
November 15, 2005

Flagg Road 124
TH 11-noon; 2-3pm

Required Texts

John Milton. Paradise Lost (Norton)

Marilyn Butler, ed. Burke, Paine, Godwin, and the Revolution Controversy (Cambridge)

William Godwin. Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams (Penguin)

Stephen Gill, ed. William Wordsworth: A Critical Edition of the Major Works (Oxford)

William Wordsworth. The Prelude: 1799, 1805, 1850 (Norton)

H. J. Jackson, ed. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: A Critical Edition of the Major Works (Oxford)

Donald H. Reiman, ed. Shelley's Poetry and Prose: A Norton Critical Edition (Norton)

Jerome McGann, ed. Lord Byron: The Major Works (Oxford)

Edward Hirsch, ed. Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats (Random House)

Harold Bloom, ed. Romanticism and Consciousness (Norton)

Course Packet (Rhode Island Book Company)

NOTE: With the exceptions of Caleb Williams and the Course Packet, all materials are available through Reserve at the URI library

Class Participation (15%)
Seminar Paper (70%)
Class Opening (15%