On The Sublime: An Essay

The exact date & authorship of the Greek work “Peri Hypsous” or the “On
The Sublime”, but is commonly associated to a rhetorician Longinus.
Possibly it was written in 1st to 3rd Century A.D., and was discovered in the
16th Century & published by the Itallian critic Franciscus Robertello in 1554.

On The Sublime takes an approach to criticism which is completely different

from that of Aristotle. If Aristotle is a model for all Neo-Classical &
systematic approaches to literature, Longinus may be looked upon as a
forerunner of the intuitive & romantic views of the later Neo-Classical age,
when several critics (Bolieau, Burke, Kant) wrote works on the subject of
the sublime.

By the word ‘sublime’ Longinus, means elevation or loftiness – all that

raises style above the ordinary, and gives it distinction in its widest and
truest sense. So sublimity is a certain distinction and excellence in
composition. Longinus says that, both nature and art contribute to sublimity
in literature. Art is perfect when it seems to be nature, and nature hits the
mark when she contains art hidden within her.

Longinus discovers five main sources of the sublime – grandeur of thought,

capacity for strong emotion, appropriate use of figures of speech, nobility of
diction and dignified and elaborate composition. Without grandeur of
thought the writer cannot rise to great heights. Only noble thoughts can lead
to noble deeds.

Longinus asks quite different questions about literature from those asked by
Plato and Aristotle. His vision is broad. He constantly views poetry in
relation to the author and the time of the author. He makes use of both the
historical and thought provoking comments. His mind is free from prejudice.
A great deal of his work is original and illuminating and is of permanent or
universal significance. He attaches importance to emotion, imagination and
beauty of words.

Longinus is the most modern of the ancient critics. Horace was very much
influenced by Longinus. He classified certain important matters like the
moderns. He talks sense. After Aristotle, he is the greatest critic among the
Greeks. He represented the last romanticism and classicism. He gave an
effective theory of literature. He drew upon a number of literatures. Style for
him was the life and blood, the very spirit of the work and the personality of
its author. He was the first to assert that “Style” is the man.

“On the Sublime” is a classic gift of Longinus. It is a fragmentary treatise. It

is not yet known who Longinus really was. It is a bright essay on style.

According to Longinus, the purpose of the greatest writers has been to

introduce, to delight and to persuade. But their greatness lies in sublimity.
Sublimity is the echo of a great soul, of a lofty mind; it is not merely an
excellence in language. It is the note that rings from a great mind. A work of
a genius must aim at ecstasy. In Indian terms, it is the combination of
Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram (the true, the god and the beautiful) that
makes a work sublime.

Sublime thoughts can be attained by strong emotions. A writer who indulges

in avoiding inferior types of emotions falls close to the standard of the
sublime.

Figures of speech are the artistic aids to sublimity. The chief figures are the
rhetoric questions, hyperbaton, apostrophe and periphrasis. The figures of
speech should be carefully used.

Verbal magic has its own effect. Diction relates to style. Style is the wise
and systematic selection of the most important elements, events or passions
into a single whole. The use of questions and answers makes the speeches
more effective and impressive.

A work of art should be harmonious and complete. For this, it should have a
dignified and elaborate composition. It should have sufficient length. Words
must be harmoniously set, for the resulting harmony is a natural instrument,
not only of persuasion and pleasure but also of lofty emotion.

Such a harmonious combination of words appeals to the soul and enables the
reader to share in the emotions of the author. At least, Longinus warns
against extreme conciseness of expression because it cramps and cripples the
thought.

Scott-James calls Longinus “The first romantic critic” because of his

insistence on passion, ecstasy, transport, imagination, intensity and
exaltation. These are the romantic traits found in criticism of Longinus. In
the words of Prof. Saintsbury, “Longinus has marked out grounds of
criticism very far from those of the ancient period. Before Longinus the
Greek and Roman critics judged a work of art in accordance with the set
rules, or considered it either from the pragmatic or the ethical standpoint.
Longinus used all these standards. He judged a work more by its essence
than by its form. He gave his theory of sublimity and insisted that the reader
or hearer should be carried away, transported and moved to ecstasy by the
grandeur and the passion of the work.

We should be cautious of observing that he was not thorough romantic

critic. He tempers romanticism with what is sanest in classicism. Scott-
James says that classicism was touched with romance, but not darkened. He
knew that emotion and passion should be guided by some rules. He says that
mere grandeur is exposed to danger when left without the control of reason
and the ballast of scientific method. In this way it can be said that he is the
first romantic critic who maintained his affiliations with classicism. Prof.
Scott-James also says, “Though he was the first to raise the base upon which
romanticism rests, he turned and tempered them with what is the sanest in
classicism. Though he was the first great critic to proclaim the efficacy of
inspiration, he did not think that beauty comes like wind from heaven to fill
the sails of the poet’s ship and drive it without effort across the sea.

A harmonious composition alone sometimes makes up for the deficiency of

the other elements. Such an arrangement has not only a natural power of
persuasion and of giving pleasure but also the marvelous power of exalting
the soul and moving the heart of men. Making a distinction between the
false and the true sublime, Longinus says that the false sublime is
characterized first, by timidity or bombast of language, which is as great an
evil as swellings in the body. Secondly, the false sublime is characterized by
triviality, which is a parade and pomp of language. Thirdly, the false sublime
results when there is a cheap display of passion, when it is not justified by
the occasion, and so is wearisome. True sublime, on the other hand, pleases
all and pleases always, for it expresses thoughts of universal validity –
thoughts common to man of all ages and centuries – in a language that
instinctively uplifts our souls.