Sublimity's Effect on Modern Society

Longinus’s piece, “From On the Sublime” is a literary critique set to help its audience better discern what is adherently right and wrong with certain types of writing.  In his writing, Longinus deals with several genre’s of text ranging from rhetorical speaking to poetry, specifically the importance of control a writer has on his work.  In this journal entry I hope to dig deeper into Longinus’s theory in an effort to better understand how and if his literary critique is relevant in today’s writing world.

Right away Longinus states that a text must fulfill two requirements. “[A text] should explain what its subject is...” and “... Is should explain how and by what methods we can achieve [the message that the text is trying to convey]” (Longinus 346).  These two fulfillments are crucial in helping a piece of writing achieve what he calls, “the sublime.”  Longinus later defines this sublimity as, “... A kind of eminence or excellence of discourse,” perfection in writing.  It is the writers responsibility to become disciplined enough to not fall into the trap that is non subliminal literature.  Subliminal writing comes through a set of man created rules created with the intent to create not only more morally correct writing, but also writing that was rhetorically correct.  The importance of rhetorical correctness is valuable because, “persuasion is on the whole something we can control.”  (Longinus 347).

As I continued to read his piece I noticed that the concept of control began to show up as a recurring theme.

The level of control that an author has over the work he is producing is extremely important.  An authors jurisdiction over his writing means that he has the power to persuade his audience in whichever way he pleases.  By recognizing his audience, a writer can choose to either lead his audience away from the truth or show them the truth.  It is this concept that makes Longinus’s writing relevant in today’s writing sphere.

Longinus’s writing is a very deep piece of writing that I struggled to wrap my head around.  The concept of subliminal writing was foreign to me, but after thorough investigation it is obvious to me that it holds a great level of importance in today’s current writing circle.  Without this set of rules that man has created, the world of writing would certainly be as corrupt.

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.