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Sublimity Principle

Concept
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An aesthetic principle holding that great poetry should inspire awe, grandeur, or transcendent emotion through elevated language, vast imagery, or moral intensity.

Detailed Definition
The Sublimity Principle refers to the aesthetic pursuit of grandeur, awe, and transcendent emotion in poetry, rooted in Longinus’s treatise On the Sublime; it emphasizes elevated diction, powerful imagery, and cosmic themes to evoke overwhelming feeling, influencing Romantic poets like Wordsworth and Shelley in their quest for spiritual and emotional intensity.
Example
Example in poetry:
Sublimity Principle appears in Longinus’ influence on Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” where vastness evokes awe; In Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey,” nature’s power elevates spirit; In Shelley’s “Mont Blanc,” mountain as sublime force; In Emily Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral,” psychological sublime; In contemporary poet Tracy K. Smith’s “Life on Mars,” cosmic scale evokes wonder and terror.
Additional Notes
Sublimity Principle: Aesthetic aiming at grandeur or awe; draws from Longinus’ treatise on the sublime.
Also Known As
Elevation principle Lofty doctrine Grandeur rule Transcendent theory
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