An Essay on the Principles of Philosophical Criticism, Applied to Poetry

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1810 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV. Of Sublimity;--its constituent Elements and universal Form. SECTION I. SUBLIMITY is that quality in things, by which they have the power to excite admiration. Admiration is an emotion of the mind, compounded of wonder, veneration, and awe. That such are the essential elements of admiration, is evident from this: that when all the three are absent, there never can be any admiration at all;--that when one or two of them only are present, there is always a certain degree of admiration;--and that when all the three are present, there is always admiration in its highest degree. Wonder is always produced either by inexperience of an effect, or by ignorance of its cause. Thus any object, any appearance, however trivial and unimportant, if rare and unusual, excites the wonder of the vulgar, through their inexperience of such an effect: --and any object or phenomenon, however common and obvious, may excite the wonde.r of a contemplative mind, through ignorance of the cause from which it results. The The former kind of wonder is a capital source of superstitious terrour; the latter is the primary source of philosophical research.' Veneration is produced by the power of the cause, and by that of the effect united. Thus the grand phenomena of the universe, --such asr gravitation and the revolutions of the planets, excite our veneration through the transcendant power of their almighty cause, --and through their own power in the stupendouseffects which they produce;--the regular succession of days and nights, --the variety of climates and of seasonsr--the production of animal and of vegetable life, --and the general' preservation of all things. Awe (or terrour) is produced by the power of the effect alone; whether that power exist in mere capacity or in actual e