LONGINUS—additional materials

LONGINUS—additional materials

Lecture notes by S. Sreekumar

The identity of Longinus (who he was, where and when he lived etc.) is unknown. The famous  treatise On the Sublime is generally credited to him.

On the Sublime

The declared subject of the book is rhetoric but it looks into what constitutes sublimity in literature.

Sublimity in Literature

Before Longinus, it was thought that the function of poetry was to instruct, or to delight or to do both, and the function of prose to persuade.

 

Longinus finds this three-word formula——instruct, delight and persuade—— unsatisfactory because he discovered that the masterpieces of Greek literature (the epics of Homer, the lyrics of Sappho and Pindar, the tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles, and the orations of Demosthenes) while they instruct, delight and persuade, were great for a different reason altogether—their sublimity.

Longinus defines sublimity thus:

‘Sublimity consists of a certain distinction and consummate excellence in expression and it is from this and no other cause, that the greatest poets and prose-writers have gained their eminence and immortal fame’.

The effect of a lofty passage is not merely to convince the reader but to transport him out of himself. ‘Not instruction or delight or persuasion is the test of great literature, but transport caused by an irresistible magic of speech’. If the hearer is spell-bound by what the writer says, he can neither think nor feel except what the writer thinks or feels. Then the work has the quality of the sublime. The influence of the sublime acts with an irresistible might and get the upper hand with every hearer.

The Sources of the Sublime

Longinus finds five main sources of sublimity, the first two of which are largely the gifts of nature and the remaining three the gifts of art.

1. Grandeur of thought,

2. Capacity for strong emotion,

3. Appropriate use of Figures,

4. Nobility of diction, and

5. Dignity of composition.

1. Grandeur of Thought

A sublime work comes only from sublime thoughts.  ‘Sublimity is the echo of greatness of soul’. It is impossible for people with mean and servile ideas and habits to produce anything that is admirable and worthy of immortal life. It is only natural that great accents should fall from the lips of those whose thoughts have always been deep and full of majesty. Stately thoughts belong to lofty minds.

Mostly sublimity is inborn, but it can be acquired by proper discipline——chiefly by constantly in touch with whatever is noble and sublime.

Great writers like Homer, Plato or Aristotle illuminate our path. These works lift our souls to high standard of perfection.

Linking sublimity of expression to sublimity of thought, Longinus assigns a higher purpose to the resulting ‘transport’ than would appear at first sight. It signifies a transport caused by the noblest thoughts finding their natural expression in the noblest language.

Thus it is good to be transported out of ourselves because literature that takes such hold on us is nurtured on whatever is noble and sublime in life and literature. It has an elevating effect both morally and artistically.

2. Capacity for strong emotion

True emotions in the right place lead to loftiness. Stately emotions belong to the loftiest minds. Iliad and Odyssey fill their readers with divine frenzy. Longinus thus challenges Plato’s distrust of emotions. Aristotle had valued emotions for their cathartic effect; Longinus values them for the aesthetic transport they cause.

3. Appropriate use of Figures

Longinus does not consider Figures of speech as an unnatural imposition on speech, thrust in for the sake of ornament. By introducing an element of strangeness into what one speaks or hears every day, they satisfy a basic demand of human nature—that for a pleasant surprise. A figure is effective when it appears in disguise. The chief figures that make for sublimity are the rhetorical question, asyndeton, hyperbaton, and periphrasis.

Rhetorical question is either question or a statement in question form that suggests its own answer. Example—‘who is so base, that would be a bondman? with its implied answer ‘None’. [Julius Caesar]

Asyndeton is a speech in which words or clauses, which should be ordinarily connected by conjunctions, are left unconnected as in—‘Now where is the revenue which is to do all these mighty things? Five-sixths repealed—abandoned—sunk—gone—lost for ever—where the rapid flow of the connected words suggests the excited mood in which they are uttered and which is likely to induce the same mood in the hearer or the reader.

Hyperbaton is an inversion of the normal order of words, suggestive of a disordered utterance made under an emotional strain and falling with a like effect on the hearer or the reader, as in Macbeth.  Macduff finding Duncan lying murdered in a pool of blood cries out thus in broken language: ‘O horror! horror! horror! Tongue nor heart// Cannot conceive nor name thee! Here ‘tongue’ is the subject of ‘name’ and ‘heart’ the subject of ‘conceive’.  The apparent disorder in the use of the verbs shows the chaos and confusion in his mind.

Periphrasis is a roundabout way of speaking. In Othello, Othello calls Desdemona a ‘whore’. A rudely shocked Desdemona and Emilia complain to Iago. Emilia repeats the very word used by Othello.  But Desdemona’s modesty quails before a word so vulgar. So she uses a periphrasis—Desdemona: Am I that name, Iago?// Iago: What name, fair lady? // Desdemona: Such as she says my lord did say I was.

4. Nobility of Diction

Longinus turns his attention to diction which comprises of 1. the proper choice of words and 2. the use of metaphors and ornamental language. Words have a moving and seductive effect upon the reader and are the first things in a style to lend it grandeur, beauty and mellowness, dignity, force, power, and a sort of glittering charm. It is they that breathe voice into dead things. They are the very light of thought.

It should be noted that imposing language is not suitable for any occasion, especially when the object is trivial. This necessitates the use of common words which when inelegant, make up for it by their raciness and forcefulness.

Among the ornaments of speech, Longinus considers metaphor and hyperbole. Aristotle had limited the use of metaphor into not more than two at a time. Longinus disagrees and asserts that a writer can use as many as he deems sufficient to convey the passion. No writer when he is impassioned has the time to count the number of metaphors he is using, nor has the reader when he is carried away by an impassioned utterance.

On hyperbole, Longinus says that it should be the natural outcome of emotion and that like all great art it should appear in disguise.

5. Dignity of Composition

Longinus considers the arrangement of words. It should be one that blends thought, emotion, figures, and words themselves—the preceding four elements of sublimity—into a harmonious whole. A harmonious composition alone sometimes makes up for the deficiency of the other elements. A proper rhythm is one of the elements in this harmony.

Romanticism in Longinus

The Greek and Roman critics thought that if a writer followed the rules of the art, as deduced from the practice of the ancient masters, he could, with due help from nature, attain perfection. Much of Longinus’s own criticism follows this very line. But at least in three ways Longinus breaks with this tradition.

è “Instruction, delight, and persuasion, all of which kept the reader within the bounds of reason, summed up the classical ideal of literary perfection”. Into this Longinus introduces ‘the storm and fury of the romantic movement’ by admitting the full play of the passions in the production of a masterpiece. This freedom is the very basis of the romantic temper. It is impatient of rules and follows its own bent. But it is true that he does not leave it entirely free. He lays down rules for its guidance, based on nature’s own practice.

è He protests against the traditional number of metaphors and rises above the narrow inductions of his predecessors.

è “Finally, while the classicists judged a work by its ‘faultlessness’ or close conformity to rules, Longinus sees no merit in it, if it does not at the same time lead to sublimity. He prefers the ‘faulty’ Homer to the ‘faultless’ Apollonius, the ‘faulty’ Demosthenes to the almost ‘faultless’ Hyperides”. Each of these supreme authors—Homer and Demosthenes—often redeems all his mistakes in one sublime and happy touch. Thus Longinus is the first romantic critic. 

Longinus as a Critic

1. Longinus is not original in many of his ideas as they were already expressed by Aristotle and others. But in his main thesis—his theory of transport—he rises above all his predecessors, Greek or Roman. Here he transcends all rules and pleads for a purely aesthetic appreciation of literature.

2. Longinus admires the Greek Classics not because they observe the rules but because they excite, move, transport and elevate. And any art that does so is sublime even though it might be faulty in form. Homer is great in spite of all his formal blemishes.

3. Longinus sees an intimate connection between the greatness of soul and the greatness of speech. Here he follows Plato, to whom also excellence in art was but a reflection of excellence of character. Longinus thus is “three characters in one: a classicist in taste, a romanticist in temper, and an idealist at heart”.

Lecture notes by Dr. S. Sreekumar. Research scholars must not be satisfied with what is given in the prescribed text. Extra reading is necessary to score high marks.