00010 -- What is meant by "sublimity" in literature according to Longinus?
What is meant by "sublimity" in literature according to Longinus?
Before Longinus the function of great literature was summed up in a formula of three words-- to instruct, to delight, and to persuade. But Longinus found this formula of three words inadequate in evaluating the total effect of the literature produced by the great Greek masters. He found that the epics of Homer and tragedies of Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides, and the lyrics of Pindar transported the reader or the spectator to ecstacy or emotional rapture. He called this ecstasy SUBLIMITY. Explaining this term, he said, "Sublimity consists in a certain distinction and consummate excellence in expression, and it's from this and no other source, that the greatest poets and prose-writers have gained their eminence and immortal fame."
Great literature transports the reader out of himself to ecstasy caused by an irresistible magic of speech. The reader is so moved that he can neither think nor feel except what the writer thinks or feels. This kind of literature has the quality of the sublime. This quality of Sublimity, the power to transport or elevate is irresistible- it irresistibly pleases, excites, moves, transports, and elevates all readers of all times. This is the true test of the SUBLIMITY in literature.
