The Sublime

Professor
J. Jennifer Jones

Claire Simpers

Professor Jones

HPR 312

27 March 2007

Edmund Burke and Thomas Gray:
Facing Mortality and Creating Sublimity through the Medium of Language

In Edmund Burke’s A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1757), the sublime derives from the “delight” one experiences when faced with the terror of one’s own mortality at enough of a distance that actual danger is not imminent. For this reason, Burke would consider Thomas Gray to be a sublime poet, because he succeeds in forcing readers to confront the inevitable mortal fate of all humankind in his “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” (1751) in a manner conducive to Burke’s sublime: through the medium of words.

Burke identifies the importance that terror without the actual risk of danger plays in his sublime in Section V, Part Four of his Enquiry:

Having considered terror as producing unnatural tension and certain violent emotions of the nerves . . . whatever is fitted to produce such a tension, must be productive of a passion similar to terror, and consequently must be a source of the sublime, though it should have no idea of danger connected with it. (121)

The intensity of terror produces “tension” and “violent emotions on the nerves” that are not inherent in humankind; they are “unnatural.” Something capable of producing emotions this strong must then be a source of the sublime, so long as there is “no idea of danger.” This terror must be experienced through a medium that prevents the possibility of actual danger; if mortality is feasible within the context of the terrifying experience, Burke’s sublime cannot be achieved.

Thomas Gray demonstrates precisely this sublime within his “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." Gray terrifies readers by confronting them with their own mortality, yet he does so through the safe distance the medium of poetry provides. Although Gray’s “Elegy” is largely a socio-political commentary, the poem ultimately ponders the inevitability of all humankind. He writes, “The paths of glory lead but to the grave” (33). Both the educated and uneducated are doomed to the same fate after life: death. The poem terrifies as it simultaneously depicts the death of a peasant farmer and forces readers to realize their own inevitable mortality. He paints a grim picture of life after death, writing,

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care;
No children run to lisp their sire’s return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. (21-24)

The “blazing hearth” no longer burns, as the deceased do not have the opportunity to reap relaxation after their long day of hard work in the fields. They no longer receive affection from their spouses and children. Through this passage, Gray effectively communicates the idea that “life” after death is lonely and solitary. This examination of death works to terrify readers; each must grasp his/her own foreseeable fate. Within this exploration of human inevitability, Gray perfects the sublime Burke articulates in the Enquiry. Although he confronts readers with their own mortality, the actual risk of their death does not exist; therein lies the distance necessary for Burke’s sublime to exist. Gray allows us to experience the terror in thinking of our own death, but the words of his poem act as the necessary medium for readers to experience sublimity. The words of Gray’s poem separate actual mortality and the mere terrifying thought of mortality, providing the safe distance Burke demands in his sublime.

Longinus, On the Sublime. 1 A.D. Trans. W. H. Fyfe; Rev. D. A. Russell. Loeb Classical Library, 1996.
ISBN: 0674995635

 John Milton, Paradise Lost. 1674. Ed. Gordon Teskey. New York: Norton, 2005.
ISBN: 0393924289

The Book of Job. Trans. Stephen Mitchell. New York: Harper Perennial, 1992. ISBN: 0060969598

Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. 1757. Ed. James T. Boulton. Indiana: U of Notre Dame P, 1993.
ISBN: 0268000859

Immanuel Kant. The Critique of Judgement. 1790. Trans. James Creed Meredith. New York: Oxford UP, 1978. ISBN: 0198245890

Anne Radcliffe. The Italian. Ed. Frederick Garber. New York: Oxford UP, 1998.
ISBN: 0198245890

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey. Ed. Marilyn Gaull. New York: Longman, 2004.
ISBN: 0321202082

Suggested Texts

Michael Greer. What Every Student Should Know About Citing Sources with MLA Documentation. New York: Longman, 2006.
ISBN: 0321447379

Joseph Gibaldi. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th Rev. Edition. MLA P, 2003
ISBN: 0873529863

Diana Hacker. A Writer’s Reference. 5th Sprl edition. Bedford/St. Martin's P, 2003.
ISBN: 0312412622

Course Requirements

Participation (15%)
4 Short Essays (40%)
Seminar Paper (45%)