Elements of Criticism: In Two Volumes

Chapter 4. Grandeur and Sublimity

150 u chapter iv u Grandeur and Sublimity Nature hath not more remarkably distinguished us from other animals by an erect posture, than by a capacious and aspiring mind, attaching us to things great and elevated. The ocean, the sky, seize the attention, and make a deep impression:* robes of state are made large and full to draw respect: we admire an elephant for its magnitude, notwithstanding its unwieldiness .1 The elevation of an object affects us no less than its magnitude: a high place is chosen for the statue of a deity or hero: a tree growing on the brink of a precipice, looks charming when viewed from the plain below: a throne is erected for the chief magistrate; and a chair with a high seat for the president of a court. Among all nations, heaven is placed far above us, hell far below us. In some objects, greatness and elevation concur to make a complicated impression: the Alps and the Peak of Teneriff are proper examples; with * Longinus observes, that nature inclines us to admire, not a small rivulet, however clear and transparent, but the Nile, the Ister, the Rhine, or still more the ocean. The sight of a small fire produceth no emotion; but we are struck with the boiling furnaces of Aetna, pouring out whole rivers of liquid flame. Treatise of the Sublime, chap. 29. [Longinus: in the eighteenth century he was mistakenly thought to be a third-century a.d. statesman and critic. Scholars now agree that his treatise was written in Greek, in the first century a.d., by a writer with both Roman and Jewish contacts. The reference is chapter 35. In spite of English translations available from 1712, Kames was typical of many eighteenth-century readers who used the French translation and commentary by Boileau (1674)—see the note for .] 1. The next eight paragraphs are revisions of the text in the first edition. grandeur and sublimity 151 the following difference, that in the former greatness seems to prevail, elevation in the latter. The emotions raised by great and by elevated objects, are clearly distinguishable , not only in the internal feeling, but even in their external expressions . A great object makes the spectator endeavour to enlarge his bulk; which is remarkable in plain people who give way tonaturewithoutreserve; in describing a great object, they naturally expand themselves by drawing in air with all their force. An elevated object producesadifferentexpression: it makes the spectator stretch upward, and stand a-tiptoe. Great and elevated objects considered with relation to the emotionsproduced by them, are termed grand and sublime. Grandeur andsublimity have a double signification: they commonly signify the quality or circumstance in objects by which the emotions of grandeur and sublimity are produced; sometimes the emotions themselves. In handling the present subject, it is necessary that the impression made on the mind by the magnitude of an object, abstracting from itsotherqualities , should be ascertained. And because abstraction is a mental operation of some difficulty, the safest method for judging is, to chuse a plain object that is neither beautiful nor deformed, if such a one can be found. The plainest that occurs, is a huge mass of rubbish, the ruins perhaps of some extensive building, or a large heap of stones, such as are collected together for keeping in memory a battle or other remarkable event. Such an object, which in miniature would be perfectly indifferent, makes an impression by its magnitude, and appears agreeable. And supposingitsolarge, as to fill the eye, and to prevent the attention from wandering upon other objects, the impression it makes will be so much the deeper.* But tho’ a plain object of that kind be agreeable, it is not termed grand: it is not intitled to that character, unless, together with its size, it be possessed of other qualities that contribute to beauty, such as regularity, proportion , order, or colour: and according to the number of such qualities combined with magnitude, it is more or less grand. Thus St. Peter’s church at Rome, the great pyramid of Egypt, the Alps towering above the clouds, a great arm of the sea, and above all a clear and serene sky, are grand, be- * See Appendix, Terms defined, § 33. 152 chapter iv cause, beside their size, they are beautiful in an eminent degree. On the other hand, an overgrown whale, having a disagreeable appearance, is not grand. A...