Only a bearded child of my ill mannered up bringing would transition from a title like that to the ideas of a philosopher by the name of, (excuse my language), Longinus. He attempted to conquer the difficult task of defining the “sublime”, and quite frankly, I think it would have been easier to pay a seasoned Sophist to handle the dirty work, but Longinus wouldn’t have it. And neither will I. Longinus professed that “sublimity is a kind of eminence or excellence of discourse” (On Sublimity, 116), among myriad of other things pertaining to human ability and nature. His smooth and subtle way of approaching such a feat as to define the subliminal is, in my eyes at least, a subliminal act in itself. Displaying not only the courage to act, but with cunning and even wit, it defies that of the common man’s valor. Juxtaposing the honorable with the dedicated, produces effects of the sublime and Longinus is a prime example of his own studies. But what else? Like ideas of love, or hate and any of their confidant’s, a subliminal feeling is almost too difficult to explain in mundane words, they seem to taint the utter experience all together. What we can do as students of life is to paint pictures using other examples; i.e. that of nature, or art. The instant endorphin explosion of an orgasm, nature in its primal form, a sun setting behind a snow capped mountain range, the laugh of an infant child or the birth of one. All of these are actions or instances in time, all contrasting, all unique in context but familiar in the way of the feeling. Like the leaders rally of his people, on the battlefield or in the senate, the subliminal moment captures the essence of the human spirit with an unexplainable feeling of utopia that would be lost, tarnished and ridiculed in the sloppy sentences of any nation’s syntax. It is nature or acts, imitations of its methods, which convey the truly subliminal and whether it’s the feeling of an hour long orgasm or a poem written in an honest hand, the sublime is a sublime example of the human experience.
Leitch, Vincent B. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Pg. 116. On Sublimity
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ReplyDeleteDid Sublime get residuals from the use of their name? I think there is nothing subliminal about a leader marching his soldiers into battle or a politician fighting to raise our taxes when some of us pay 42% already. And we have military bases around the world. We are free?!? I don't feel it. This is sublime?? (Three lines up from the bottom you forgot the L in limitations)
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Sublime should have paid the Greeks for creating the word, not the other way around. Your arguments are so flat and constricted by your own predetermined ideology of the images I have laid claim that I am certain you would find fault with the idea of puppies being anything but an animal created by neo conservative anglo americans in order to distract liberal hippie democrats from the world of shit they are imposing on us, and what a crooked way to look at things. Just because there are unjust wars being fought does not mean that there are not justified battles in world history in which a noble leader rallied his troops with a heart felt speech. Just because the American democratic system has been trampled and whored by corrupt lawmakers and lobbyists does not, for one minute, mean that in all the history of the world there was not and will not be honest politicians who will speak and work on behalf of the people. I would name a few but do I really have to? Don't be my binary opposite just for the sake of it Matt, please, do yourself a favor and come correct if you comment in here. Your 5 lines of weak feeble arguments are Bill O'Riley in their failed attempt at proving a point and Glen Beck in diction. This is a scholarly thread, dont bring that motley crue of syntax back in here.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
And I didn't forget L in that word, it's imitation. You should be familiar with that word.