Grand Style isn't always Greatness

In On the Sublime, “Longinus” argues that greatness and sublimity are not always found in the grand style or “turgidity” of speech. He suggests that it is instead found in words or speech that connect with an audience and cause a profound emotional reaction. 

“Turgidity,” according to the Collins English Dictionary, is the “quality or state of being pompous and high-flown or bombastic” in regards to language. In our terms, it is associated with using Latinate language in a way that invites scrutiny because it is out of place. “Longinus” agrees that turgidity, though, is a “hard fault to avoid” because speakers are naturally inclined to “escape the charge of weakness” which may be caused by using common speech. However, he says that, like tumors, turgidity is bad, and “may well bring us the opposite result” that the speaker intended (348). From what I understand, turgidity and the “grand style” suggested in the introduction go hand in hand according to Longinus’ understanding of the surrounding public’s opinion. He offers a theory that is at odds with that opinion by connecting “greatness” with the audience’s “elevated” emotional connection with the speaker’s subject (354, 358). 

That elevated, emotional connection depends on two major factors: the author’s character, and the audience’s character. At odds with the general philosophies of the time, On the Sublime points out that “a text’s sublimity is not determined solely by the features of that text; it depends, too, on the effect on the audience,” (344). That’s why “Longinus’” theory of the sublime can’t be reduced to general tropes and rules--the audience’s reactions are also a factor. The sublime, to “Longinus,” should have an impact on the audience that “awakens” them to their “higher natures,” and grand style can’t always do that (345). In fact, even the most common speech style can be sublime if it connect on a seemingly universal level. “Longinus” says, 

When people of different trainings, ways of life, tastes, ages, and manners all agree about something, the judgement and assent of so many distinct voices lends strength and irrefutability to the conviction that their admiration is rightly directed. (350) 

As inferred from above, “grand style” isn’t always the best option for reaching sublimity. In fact, it may involve the opposite--communicating in a way that connects people from many backgrounds and ways of life. Limiting one’s grasp of the means to reach “greatness” or sublimity when speaking or writing to a certain style limits their ability to do so. Instead, the means, “Longinus” argues, is natural; it has to do with the author’s nobility in wisdom and thought, as well as the audience’s. The specific style, therefore, will fit the occasion and reach the audience in a unique way that suggests sublimity. 

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Longinus. “From On the Sublime.” The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present, Second Edition. Ed. Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001. 344-358.