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

A HISTORY OF LITERARY CRITICISM—HARRY BLAMIERS

UNIT I

S. Sreekumar

This is a part of the summary of the first chapter of the book by Harry Blamiers. The rest of the summary will be published later.  
Longinus

Introduction

The identity of Longinus is not clear. But for modern readers, he is more familiar than Plato, Aristotle or Horace. The tract ‘On the Sublime’ is associated with Longinus, whatever may be his identity.

Longinus lists the ingredients of sublimity thus:

1. Grandeur of thought.

This he considers the ‘concomitant (connected, related) of a great soul’. Longinus quotes examples from Homer to point out that when a great soul is truly inspired, he lays before the reader what could have been conceived only by a man of noble spirit.