The concept of sublime and Romanticism

1. THE SUBLIME → PRE – ROMANTIC TREND
In “A philosophical enquiry into the origin of
our ideas of the sublime and beautiful”, the
Irish man Edmond Burke analyzed the
concept of beauty and sublime and how
they developed in time
In the past, especially in Humanism and
Renaissance, the concept of beauty was
connected to harmony, perfection,
symmetry and all characteristics that
recall the classic model but Burke could
completely this idea

2. He analyzed a new concept, called sublime: sublime is something that
lifts up, something beautiful that creates a great pleasure sensation (in
the past, there was an objective vision of beauty) → now, for the first
time, the concept of beauty is combined with horror and terror → the
sublime is what causes astonishment
The concept of sublime
is provoked by
feelings of fear, terror,
horror and the sense of
infinity; according to
Burke, it has two
effects: the major one
is that it produces
terror while the minor
one is that it causes
respect
Kant’s definition of sublime:
sublime derives from the conflict
between sensibility and reason
(the sublime with the subject who
perceives it, not with the
contemplated object) → mixture of
horror and pleasure created by
immeasurable things in time and
space

3. THE ROMANTICISM
It’s an European trend which
developed in the 19th century
and had different characteristics
from a country and another one
Etymology of the world ‘Romantic’:
it comes from the Latin “roman” that,
in Middle Ages, becomes “romance”
and indicates a fantastic story, full of
mythical and sentimental elements →
then, between 18th and 19th, the
adjective changed its meaning and
represents what is strange, unusual,
erotic, extravagant, out of commonArtists researched isolation,
solitude → they escaped far
away from industrialized cities
and moved towards countryside
→ return back to the genuine and
humble nature because they
were suspicious about positive
effects that could have the
industrialization (Lake district
poets)
Gothic aspect: Graveyard
poetry → fundamental
elements are night, obscurity,
silence, loneliness: dark and
night atmospheres

4. Feelings and emotions
prevail on rationality and they
are the key word for artists’
creativity: rejection of
Enlightenment, which was tied
with materialism, caused by the
industrialization
Romantic poets privileged the intimate
dimension, so all concerned with
reflection, meditation, contemplation,
introspection → new feelings come out:
melancholy, sadness, expressed with
somber tone
Now the individual is privileged
and he is on the border of society:
interior and emotional response →
subjective point of view: I voice
As he is imbued in the natural
scenery, he perceives it through
senses (noble senses: sight and
hearing) → artist doesn’t act against
the nature: the artist is all together
with the nature (exchange between
artist and what is around → the poet
completely loses himself in the
nature)

5. Kant: revolution in the concept of nature,
intended as something that men could not
control with rationality (nature begins to
be perceived as a manifestation of a
divine power on Earth)
REFERENCES TO PHILOSOPHY
Rousseau: connection with infant state, that’s the
state to privilege and admire because the child
doesn’t suffer because he isn’t in contact with the
corrupted society. His uncorrupted sensibility means
that the child is close to the divine state → civilization
represents restrictions on the individual personality
and produces evil and corruption