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Longinus and the Sublime: A Literary Critique

Uncover the essence of the sublime in literature through Longinus' timeless treatise, exploring noble thoughts, emotional intensity, figures of speech, diction choices, and dignified composition. Delve into the legacy of this aesthetic critic.

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Longinus and the Sublime: A Literary Critique

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  1. BBL 3103 LITERARY THEORY FROM PLATO TO T. S. ELIOT DR. IDA BAIZURA BAHAR

  2. 01 Longinus • i. About • Longinus is the conventional name of the author of the treatise On the Sublime, a work which focuses on the effect of good writing. • Exact identity of ‘Longinus’ and date On the Sublime written unknown • Addressed to a friend of Longinus, Terentianus • A listing of vices that constitute the ‘false sublime’ and characteristics of ‘true sublime’

  3. 02 On the Sublime • i. The Sublime • The sublime: loftiness of content and excellence of language • > resulting in ‘transport,’ where the reader is carried away or moved by the poem • > better a work be majestic and flawed, than immaculately crafted and mediocre • True sublime: uplifts the soul; perpetual beauty; not diminished by context • False sublime: banality dressed in bombastic language

  4. 02 On the Sublime • ii. Sources of the sublime • 1. Grandeur of conception • The poet must be free from base and ignoble thoughts • Great ideas spring from great souls • These great ideas must then be organised to form an organic whole • 2. Intensity of emotion • All art must arise from the passions • Emotions amplified: complexity and immensity associated with a subject • Sublimity can be reached by amplification, but amplification alone is not sublimity

  5. 02 On the Sublime • 3. Appropriate use of figures • Figures of thought, figures of speech • These figures convey emotion • Vivid figures (images): poetical images to shock and awe, rhetorical images to clarify • Appropriate use of figures of speech: right place, right time • > arbitrary, unnatural use of these figures causes bathos • Hyperbaton: inversion • Anaphora: repetition • Asyndeton: conjunctions left out • Apostrophe: addressing inanimate object • Periphrasis: paraphrasing

  6. 02 On the Sublime • 4. Nobility of diction • Choice of words • Includes metaphor, simile and hyperbole • No set rules, but must arise out of passion • 5. Dignified composition • Arrangement of phrases (to produce rhythm)

  7. 03 Legacy • In many ways, the first aesthetic critic • Unlike his predecessors, Longinus speaks of art as arising from imagination and passion; it is not something that can be mechanically crafted • Avoids speaking of the practical use of art, besides pure aesthetic pleasure

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