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LONGINUS: SOURCES OF SUBLIMITY
A Basic Introduction On Longinus’s Introduction to Sublime

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LONGINUS: SOURCES OF SUBLIMITY
INTRODUCTION: Longinus is one of the greatest Greek critics
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His 'On the Sublime' is an immortal critical document of great worth and
significance
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Here Longinus
discusses the meaning, the nature and the sources of sublime
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He advises how to overcome the vices of sublime
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WHAT IS SUBLIMITY: Sublimity is a certain loftiness, distinction and consummation of
excellence in language, expression and composition
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It raises
style above the ordinary
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They
think that it has nothing to do with art
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In fact, both nature and art contribute to sublimity in
literature
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Longinus identifies pitfalls that one should avoid in the quest for
sublimity:
1) Bombastic Words: - Use of pompous Language removes the true beauty of
work
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It is drier than dropsy
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2)Childishness:-If a writer or poet uses immature and childish themes, his
work will arise false sublime
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4) Defect of Style: - The Use of bombastic words and the far- fetched ideas
make the style defective
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These sources are -

[1] Grandeur of thought;
[2] Strong emotion;
[3] The use of figures;
[4] Noble diction;
[5] Dignified composition
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The rest three
sources are the gifts of art
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It is largely the gift of nature
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Men with mean and
servile ideas can't attain sublimity
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In short, it
is the echo of a great soul
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Sublimity demands skilful selection and organisation of
material
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The imitation is also one
of the significant paths, which lead to sublimity
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The vigorous treatment of it is essential for acquiring sublimity
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According to Longinus nothing makes so much for grandeur as true
emotion in the right place
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[3] THE USE OF FIGURES: The use of figures is the third principal source of the sublime
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It helps in the creation of the sublime
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They should be employed in the right place, on the right occasion,
in the right manner and with a right motive
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The chief figures like the rhetorical questions; asyndeton, hyperbaton,
periphrasis contribute much to the sublime and add greatly to the beauty of language
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It includes choice of
proper words and the use of metaphors and ornamental language
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Longinus is of the view that beautiful
words are the very light of lofty thought
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It means that inappropriate magnificence of diction should be avoided
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Metaphor: -

Metaphors are important as they produce sublimity
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Metaphors also help in
attaining understanding
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According to Longinus, diction
constitute of the proper choice of words and use of metaphors and ornamental
language
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Aristotle had limited the number of metaphors to not more
than two at a time and the limitation had since become an important rule of the
rhetoric
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Longinus finds no justification for it
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Here is the first romantic protest against the unbreakable purity of
rules
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7
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The use of metaphors should be natural, nor mechanical nor artificial
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[5] DIGNIFIED COMPOSION: Dignified composition or the harmonious arrangement of
words is the fifth source of the sublime
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It makes the reader or hearer share the emotion of the speaker
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The lack of harmony spoils dignity and
elevation and gives the composition an appearance of meanness
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The true sublime uplifts our soul
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It gives us joy and exalts our spirits
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Every
time it suggests new ideas and feelings
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In short, the true
sublime, “pleases all, and pleases always”
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There is bombast of language
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There is also cheap display of
passion unwarranted by the subject
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His position is only next to
Aristotle
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It deals with the principle of sublimity in the world of writing
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He made the use of both the
historical and comparative methods in literary criticism
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Scott
James hails him as the first romantic critic whereas prof
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In fact, Longinus is a classicist in taste, romantic in temper and an idealist at
heart
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AS A ROMANTIC: Longinus is a romanticist in temper
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Again,
and again he directs attention from the technical to the more elusive and spiritual side of
literature
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His love for beauty, for art, for violating the
rules of the ancients makes him a romantic critic
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It is he who sowed the seeds of romanticism
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It would not be an exaggeration in calling him the grandfather of
romanticism
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AS A CLASSICIST: Longinus is a classicist in taste
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He likes inspiration but does not ignore perspiration
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He laid
emphasis on order and grandeur of thought and language
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As a classicist he stands for restrain, fitness, correctness, selection and balance
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All these affinities show that he is
one of the greatest classical critics of ancient times
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He disagrees with Scott James and designates him as an exponent of the real
classicism
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He is not only a romanticist or classicist,
but he is something more than this
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His theory of aestheticism, his
emphasis on imagination, his practical criticism and his wide outlook make him a modern
critic
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He is
very much modern when he says that 'the aim of literature or art is to instruct, to delight and
to persuade'
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In fact, the fusion of the romantic, classical and the modern
strains in Longinus is the real key to his greatness, originality and relevance
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Longinus mentions that the sublime makes us feel
improved
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These are all effects rather than causes
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1> Exalted language uses passionate and emotional language
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1
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4> Such passages are also majestic in their structure
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But, if efforts are made sincerely, there are Greater possibilities that the Lost sublime
may be restarted
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