A GUIDE TO

CRITICAL THEORY 1 FROM CLASSICISM TO

ALLEGORICAL
(LITT 203)

COMPILED BY:

NASELS 2021/2022 EXCO

LITT 203 BY NASELS 2021/2022 EXCO | CRITICAL THEORY

Introduction

The word “Criticism” is derived from the ancient Greek term krites, meaning
“Judge.” Criticism an act of expressing disapproval and nothing the problems
or faults of a person or thing. It is also a remark, comment or passing judgement
about something or someone.

- The individual who makes judgment and provides a form of feedback is

considered a critic.
- The act of finding fault; censure; disapproval. the art, principles, or
methods of a critic or critics
- A critical comment, article, or essay is criticism or critique
- One specific item of criticism critique

Classicism is an aesthetic attitude dependent on principles based in the culture,

art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome, with the emphasis on form,
simplicity, proportion, clarity of structure, perfection, restrained emotion, as
well as explicit appeal to the intellect

Allegorical is an interpretation that has a religious connection or creativity.

Theory is a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based

on general principles independent of the thing to be explained. Theory helps one
to ask fundamental questions. Theory was actually conceived in the womb of
philosophy.

Philosophy has its origin from Greek which means "love of wisdom" is the
study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence,
reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed
as problems to be studied or resolved. philosophy deals with nature and truth.
The Greeks of 5th C.B.C formulated the Philosophy of life and art which forms
the foundation of Critical theory.

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In the 5th CBC, there was a radical change in tradition and in the mindset of the
people. They question the inherited wisdom and a rejection of customary
perception of the way things are seen or viewed. Development started when the
radical and nature philosophers broke out from Gradation in orderto acquire
knowledge by asking fundamental questions that are viewed before the rise of
Greek civilization. The society was dominated by myths and place of
supernatural. These groups of Philosophers were asking basic questions on how
to explain and understand the world without reference to meet fairy tales and
supernatural.

THE NATURE PHILOSOPHERS

The Nature Philosopheris a group of philosophers that attempt to explain the

nature by the reference to the world or nature itself. The advert of nature
philosophers marked the beginning of paradigm shift of Greek society in 5th
CBC. The nature philosophers played a fundamental role to the society by
rejecting the notion of the gods and goddess. They refuse to make reference to
the supernatural in term of understanding the world. They argued about
everything that is obtainable within the world. They believe that change is
constant and as such, knowledge is not static but it should be involved just the
way the society is changing. The next philosophers that emerged are “The
Sophists”

THE SOPHISTS PHILOSOPHERS

The Sophists are also important in the changes that took place in the ancient
Greek society that led to the development of Philosophy. These are scholars
who move from one place to another in order to engage people in debate. The
emergence of the Sophist is linked to the development that took place in
Athenian society. It was the period of emergent democracy.

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The ability to argue or to debate was basically the concern of the Sophist. They
therefore tell the people how to think, argue and also engage in rhetoric.

The Sophists were also basically concerned with the issues pertaining the
governance of the society rather than the nature itself. The Sophists taught the
people how to make beautiful speech in public, how to make the speech lyrical
and engage in arguments about politics and morality. The Sophists were
considered as clever but their submission are not necessary true. The Socrates
were the next group of philosophers after the Sophists

THE SOCRATES (CIRCA 470-399)

Socrates is considered one of the emergent of a non-Greek Philosopher.

Socrates disagreed with the Sophists on the fundamental right. He argued that
“Truth is one and it is also universal” He also argued that it’s this universality
that the essence of knowledge for Socrates on truth is “Eternal”

Socrates opines the important thing in life is to question the basic knowledge or
wisdom. For whim, “The truth doesn’t change as such knowledge is that which
is permanent and knowledge is rooted in reasoning”

Socrates is regarded as the first systematic verbal philosopher who came from
Athens and was popular with the and unpopular with the elders. He taught the
youth on how to work and ask questions and not to accept others people
perceptions as such he introduce Radical Intelligence into the society by
questioning their myths, their beliefs, god\goddess and injecting new ways of
perceiving or understanding things. Socrates was considered as the Wiseman of
his time where the people of Athens were to the god of Apolo in Delphi who
inform them that there is no one as wise and intelligent than Socrates. He denied
his submission by the god and instead visited some categories of people like
politicians to find out what they really know. He came to a conclusion that the
politicians are “bunch of large mouth and empty ballot”. The Athens were short

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minded and the poets were not wise because they depend on the gods for
inspiration.

Socrates sees himself as a Gatfly that is; an irritant who shows people their
ignorance and confesses that he has impacted knowledge. Socrates developed a
method called Dialectic. (Justifying a debate). This is a method or act of
conversation or debate or the process of reasoning to obtain knowledge on any
topic. This process is also to convey related dialect and it is closely related with
Socratic Irony. This is a method of teaching in which the master does not give
any information but also ask a series or sequence of question through the pupils’
answers. Socratic Irony is the establishment of ignorance on the fact of the
master who actually knows the subject matter but gradually lease his studies
into the understanding of knowing the correct answer. Socrates believed that,
genuine thinking comes from the individual. Thinking and reasoning is a
gradual process and should not be impose on the individual. Socrates sees
himself as a Mid wife of thought because he helps people to think and arrive at
the correct conclusion.

Socrates was forced to commit suicide on charges of introducing strange goods

and beliefs and also corrupting the minds of the youth. The importance of
Socrates to the development of philosophy led to the foundation in which his
student Plato worked upon.

PLATO’S THEORY OF MIMESIS AND ARISTOLE DEFENSE

The word Mimesis, is Greek which means “imitation”. In his theory of Mimesis,
Plato says that all art is mimetic by nature; art is an imitation of life. He
believed that ‘idea’ is the ultimate reality. Art imitates idea and so it is imitation
of reality. He gives an example of a carpenter and a chair. The idea of ‘chair’
first came in the mind of carpenter. He gave physical shape to his idea out of
wood and created a chair. The painter imitated the chair of the carpenter in his

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picture of chair. Thus, painter’s chair is twice removed from reality. Hence, he
believed that art is twice removed from reality. He gives first importance to
philosophy as philosophy deals with the ideas whereas poetry deals with illusion
– things which are twice removed from reality. So to Plato, philosophy is
superior to poetry. Plato rejected poetry as it is mimetic in nature on the moral
and philosophical grounds. On the contrary, Aristotle advocated poetry as it is
mimetic in nature. According to him, poetry is an imitation of an action and his
tool of enquiry is neither philosophical nor moral. He examines poetry as a
piece of art and not as a book of preaching or teaching.

Aristotle replied to the charges made by Plato against poetry in particular and
art in general. He replied to them one by one in his defense of poetry.

1. Plato says that art being the imitation of the actual is removed from the
Truth. It only gives the likeness of a thing in concrete, and the likeness is always
less than real. But Plato fails to explain that art also gives something more
which is absent in the actual. The artist does not simply reflect the real in the
manner of a mirror. Art cannot be slavish imitation of reality. Literature is not
the exact reproduction of life in all its totality. It is the representation of selected
events and characters necessary in a coherent action for the realization of the
artist’s purpose. He even exalts, idealizes and imaginatively recreates a world
which has its own meaning and beauty. These elements, present in art, are
absent in the raw and rough real. While a poet creates something less than
reality he at the same times creates something more as well. He puts an idea of
the reality which he perceives in an object. This ‘more’, this intuition and
perception, is the aim of the artist. Artistic creation cannot be fairly criticized on
the ground that it is not the creation in concrete terms of things and beings. Thus
considered, it does not take us away from the Truth but leads us to the essential
reality of life.

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2. Plato again says that art is bad because it does not inspire virtue, does not
teach morality. But is teaching the function of art? Is it the aim of the artist? The
function of art is to provide aesthetic delight, communicate experience, express
emotions and represent life. It should never be confused with the function of
ethics which is simply to teach morality. If an artist succeeds in pleasing us in
the aesthetic sense, he is a good artist. If he fails in doing so, he is a bad artist.
There is no other criterion to judge his worth.

Plato’s charges on needless lamentations and ecstasies at the imaginary events

of sorrow and happiness encourage the weaker part of the soul and numb the
faculty of reason. These charges are defended by Aristotle in his Theory of
Catharsis. Aristotle’s views in reply to Plato’s charges in brief: “Tragedy (Art)
gives new knowledge, yields aesthetic satisfaction and produces a better state of
mind.”

3. Plato judges poetry from the educational standpoint, now from the
philosophical one and then from the ethical one. But he does not care to
consider it from its own unique standpoint. He does not define its aims. He
forgets that everything should be judged in terms of its own aims and
objectives, its own criteria of merit and demerit. We cannot fairly maintain that
music is bad because it does not paint, or that painting is bad because it does not
sing. Similarly, we cannot say that poetry is bad because it does not teach
philosophy or ethics. If poetry, philosophy and ethics had identical function,
how could they be different subjects? To denounce poetry because it is not
philosophy or ideal is clearly absurd.

ARISTOTLE'S OBJECTION TO THE THEORY OF MIMESIS

Aristotle agrees with Plato in calling the poet an imitator and creative art,
imitation. He imitates one of the three objects things as they were/are, things as
they are said/thought to be or things as they ought to be. In other words, he

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imitates what is past or present, what is commonly believed and what is ideal.
Aristotle believes that there is natural pleasure in imitation which is an in-born
instinct in men. It is this pleasure in imitation that enables the child to learn his
earliest lessons in speech and conduct from those around him, because there is a
pleasure in doing so. In a grown up child a poet, there is another instinct,
helping him to make him a poet the instinct for harmony and rhythm.

He does not agree with his teacher in ‘poet’s imitation is twice removed from
reality and hence unreal/illusion of truth', to prove his point he compares poetry
with history. The poet and the historian differ not by their medium, but the true
difference is that the historian relates ‘what has happened’, the poet, ‘what
may/ought to have happened’ - the ideal. Poetry, therefore, is more
philosophical, and a higher thing than history because history expresses the
particular while poetry tends to express the universal. Therefore, the picture of
poetry pleases all and at all times.

Aristotle does not agree with Plato in the function of poetry making people
weaker and emotional/too sentimental. For him, catharsis is ennobling and it
humbles a human being.

So far as the moral nature of poetry is concerned, Aristotle believes that the end
of poetry is to please; however, teaching may be the byproduct of it. Such
pleasing is superior to the other pleasures because it teaches civic morality. So
all good literature gives pleasure, which is not divorced from moral lessons.

ARISTOTLE’S POETICS 384 - 322

Aristotle was the first theorist of theatre – so his Poetics is the origin and basis
of all subsequent theatre criticism. His Poetics was written in the 4th century
BC, sometime after 335 BC. The important thing is that when Aristotle’s
writing his Poetics, Greek theatre was not in its heyday, but was already past its
peak, and Aristotle was writing a good 100 years after the Golden Age of Greek

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tragic theatre so in many ways it’s like a contemporary critic writing about the
plays of Chekhov or Oscar Wilde. It’s past, the writers of the plays are already
long dead, but they’ve survived and Aristotle is writing about them and
highlighting their importance. What follows are some notes towards a summary
of, and introduction to, Aristotle’s Poetics is the first great work of literary
criticism in the Western world.

So, what does Aristotle say? ‘Tragedy imitates the actions of the best people in
society, and comedy the worst sorts of people in society’. His Poetics is really
an attempt to analyze those features that make some tragedies more successful
than others.

What makes a great tragedy? His essay is an early example of Empiricism; a

philosophical tradition which regards observation of sense experience as the
basis of knowledge. Observation: we need to remember the theory of both
‘theory’ and ‘theatre’: the act of adopting the role of the spectator in order to
analyze something. So he’s not just going to sit at home and think about theatre,
he’s going to go and watch it to get a sense of how it works. Aristotle is very
concerned with the knowledge gained by the spectator via his experience of
theatre.

Aristotle’s definition of tragedy might be summed up as: an imitation of an

action which has serious and far reaching consequences. Nothing trivial, in
other words, which is the domain of comedy. Comedy deals in the trivial and
the inconsequential.

For this reason, tragedy must deal with the lives of great men because only their
actions will be of consequence to the larger community. (Arthur Miller would
later disagree, arguing that modern tragedy can and should depict the lives of
ordinary people.) Misfortune versus tragedy there is unsurprisingly a very big
gap between the way we view life and the viewpoint of the ancient Greeks. We

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place a great deal more value on the individual, but to the ancient Greeks,
individuality was seen as a negative thing because it was anti-social, which they
believed would lead to social breakdown. So it’s all about joining people, but
also sort of trying to make them all the same, with the same ideas and adherence
to the city-state, so they’d behave themselves.

Plot is the most important element of a tragedy: the sequence of events and
actions in a play. A tragedy should have only one plot and all of its action
should relate to this plot. Aristotle uses the analogy of painting to show how, in
theatre, plot is far more important than character: ‘It is much the same case as
with painting: the most beautiful pigments smeared on at random will not give
as much pleasure as a black-and-white outline picture.’

Character is second to plot in terms of its importance. Tragedy imitates an

action performed by a person primarily for the sake of the actions they perform,
rather than out of any interest in the psychology of character: ‘For tragedy is an
imitation not of men but of a life, an action, and they have moral quality in
accordance with their characters but are happy or unhappy in accordance with
their actions; hence they are not active in order to imitate their characters, but
they include the characters along with the actions for the sake of the latter. Thus
the structure of events, the plot, is the goal of tragedy, and the goal is the
greatest thing of all.’ What Aristotle is saying here is, essentially, that the
actions of the character influence the character, so action – plot – comes first
because it colours the character.

A character’s aims must be good; they must be appropriate; there should be a

likeness to human nature in general. They should be consistent. Even if the
person being imitated is inconsistent, Aristotle says, he must be inconsistent in a
consistent fashion. So if a character is mad and so behaves in a disordered
fashion, that’s fine – but he can’t be mad in one scene and then sane in the next.

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The protagonist is, of course, the main character. His actions are most
significant to the plot (remember plot is primary over character). All of the
protagonist’s or tragic hero’s habits must tend toward the good, except for one –
the hero’s hamartia or tragic flaw. That’s not going to tend towards the good:
indeed, that’s got to mess everything up for the hero.

The Unities of time, place, and action were of central importance in Greek
theatre. All action is interconnected. Tragedy will represent a complete action –
a clear beginning, middle and end. The protagonist’s hamartia is the only
impurity that exists in his (or, in the case of Sophocles’ Antigone, her) make-up.
The protagonist should be written in such a way that the audience is motivated
to empathize or identify with him because the overall aim of tragedy as a genre
is to excite pity and fear in the spectator. Pity and fear will be provoked only if
the protagonist’s fortunes go from good to bad.

A change in fortune should come about as a direct result of an action motivated

by the protagonist’s tragic flaw. This is frequently hubris or pride. The change
needs to be logical and to have a clear cause, rather than be accidental.

Oedipus Rex is Aristotle’s example of a great tragedy. It’s arguably one of a

handful of the most influential literary texts ever written, along with Hamlet and
certain passages from the Bible. And yet to give you an idea of how much great
Greek drama we have lost that has not survived down the ages Oedipus Rex
only came second at that year’s City Dionysia. First prize went to a play by the
nephew of Aeschylus. We’ve offered a short recap of the plot of Oedipus Rex
here.

The play is bound up with the idea of fate. It’s out of Oedipus’ control that he
will kill his father and marry his mother, as this has already been decreed by the
gods. Therefore, it is a little unfair to describe his ‘tragic flaw’ as his own fault.
So, that deepens our sympathy for Oedipus, since what happens came about

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thanks to accident, or to fate – neither of which was ever in his control.
However, it’s possible to argue that Oedipus’ tragic flaw is his pride. Pride has
led Oedipus to kill his father, albeit without realizing the man he kills is his
father. This results in his mother, Jocasta, being widowed and free to remarry.
This is the moment of his reversal in fortune, which leads Oedipus to recognize
his error or flaw: this happens when Oedipus discovers he killed his father,
which led to him unwittingly marrying his mother. This precipitates the hero’s
fall. Following this reversal of fortune, we have the reparation: in the best of
tragedy, the character suffers the consequences of his mistake. In Oedipus Rex,
Oedipus blinds himself and is ostracized from the state; Jocasta, even though the
fault was Oedipus’, hangs herself. Tragedy must end on a note of equilibrium.
The social order must be restored and reaffirmed.

This isn’t the happiest of endings; so, what’s the aim of tragedy? To teach you
how to be a better person. This means being a good (Greek) citizen. Because the
spectator empathizes with the protagonist, he will be led to recognize his own
tragic flaw whatever that may be – and he will want to root it out so that he does
not end in the same way as the fallen hero. Aristotle’s term for this is catharsis:
the spectator should be purged of undesirable elements that prevent his
happiness. The flaw is both individual and social an undesirable element that
would lead a person to go against the laws of land. The spectator can still
empathize with the hero because he is not an unregenerate figure. We pity
Oedipus’ decline because, except for one or two faults, he is basically a good
man. Thus, what happens to him is tragic. The tragic element also arises from
his status in society – because he is the king and what happens to him will have
wide social repercussions.

We might summarise the structure of tragedy as follows: beginning = prosperity

of hero. Middle = stimulation of Hamartia – tragic flaw; Peripeteia – reversal of

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fortune; Anagnorisis – moment of realization. End = catastrophe – hero suffers
consequences. Catharsis – spectator motivated to purge his own tragic flaw.

Glossary of Key Terms

- Mimesis:- A Greek word for Imitation.

- Imitation:- Representation.
- Magnitude:- Length, Size.
- Embellished:- Ornamental, Decorated
- Catharsis:- Purgation, Purification.
- Hamartia:- Tragic Flaw, Error of Judgment
- Diction:- Special style of the Language, Expression and Wording
- Spectacle:- Stage Property
- Denoument:-the clearing up or ‘untying’ of the complications of the plot
in a play or story. Usually it takes place at the ends.
- Aesthetic:-concerned with beauty and its appreciation.

HORACE (65-8 BC)

Quintus Horatius Flaccus better known as Horace (65-8 BC), a distinguished

practicing Roman poet and literary critic has an influential imprint on the
classical literary criticism after Greek masters Plato and Aristotle. With Horace,
the scene of classical criticism turned from 4th century BC to 1st century BC,
from Greek to Roman masters. It was the glorious and golden age of Augustan,
named after the first Roman emperor Octovian Augustus, the great patron and
sympathiser of arts and literature. Horace was a close friend to the greatest
contemporary Roman poet Virgil and is remembered for his contribution to
creative literature i.e. poetry and criticism. The views of Plato and Aristotle are
centered on philosophy, as basically they were philosophers but Horace was a
practicing poet who composed odes and satires including Satires Book I (35
BC), Satires Book II (30 BC), Epodes (29 BC), Odes Book I-III (23 BC),

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Epistles Book I (20 BC), etc. His fame as a literary critic rests upon his seminal
treatise Ars Poetica or Art of Poetry (19 BC), later this title is given by
Quintilian, originally it was Epistle to Pisos—a letter composition in verse form.
His views on literature are scattered through his other works but Ars Poetica
includes major observations on literature and criticism. His contribution to
classical criticism and poetry is very significant, many later Roman and English
poets like Milton, Pope, Marvell, Sidney, etc. imitated and practised the form
and poetical style propounded by him. He is more authoritative in his theory of
classicism and views on poetry, drama, style and overall literature because
unlike Plato and Aristotle, he practised poetry. He believed in the imitation and
practice of the ancient Greek literature and philosophy and attempted to find the
ancient Greek models. He involved in creative composition which, obviously
shaped his critical views. He talks about various elements of poetry like
function, nature, language, subject, kinds, etc. Let’s list some of his major
observations on poetry:

1. Nature of Poetry: Horace did not directly call the process of

composition of poetry as imitation, as said by Plato and Aristotle, but indirectly
called the poet an imitator. “I would advise the well-instructed imitator to take
his model from life and customs…he (poet) uses fiction and mingled facts with
fancy….fiction composed to please should be very near the truth.”

Here he agrees with Aristotle by stating that a poet should imitate the actions of
living human beings or their life and what is good or glorious in their life.
Further, he extends, poetry is based on fiction or amalgamation of facts and
fancy, but made a provision that poetry should express the truth. Here we find
the similarity between the views of Aristotle and Horace regarding the nature of
poetry—though it is a fictional composition, it should include the truth, truth of
life and beauty. It should please the reader or audience. He goes further by
calling poetry a creative endeavour and embodiment of beauty of human life

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and customs. He is more practical and detached himself from philosophical
burden.

2. Function of Poetry: Horace, basically was a poet who knew the practical
purpose of literature. He preferred neither Plato nor Aristotle as a whole
regarding the function of poetry but blended the views of both saying,

“Poets desire either to improve or to please, or to unite the agreeable and the
profitable….you will win every vote if you blend what is improving with what
pleases, and at once delight and instruct the reader. A poem like this earns
money for the publisher; it is sent across the sea and makes its famous author
immortal.”

He emphasised two major elements regarding the function of poetry:

1. A poet has two basic desires in composition of poetry i.e. to improve or

reform and to please or entertain.

2. A poet can achieve immortality or fulfil his purpose of writing if he

synthesises these both elements of improving and pleasing.

The meaning of the above dictum is simple—the function of poetry is to please

or entertain and improve or teach (morality), the first is primary and later
secondary. He considers poet as a moral improver of the society and did not
reject emotional appeal of poetry but reinstate that it should be used for the up-
gradation of morality of the society. According to him, why poets are respected
in the society, because they show the path of morality and teach what is good
for the society.

3. Subject Matter of Poetry: As he already said, poet is an imitator of life

and customs, the subject matter or theme of poetry should be derived from
human life and customs he actions of human beings. Further he records, the
subject of the poem should be simple and uniform. Simple means familiar to

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readers or audience. The poet should impart uniformity or wholeness to the
subject chosen for composition. The poet must choose the theme as per his
capacity so that he could weigh the weight on his shoulders. One must avoid
irrelevant and purposeless subject for the composition of poetry. The selection
of better theme leads the poet and poetry towards perfection getting success and
creates an image in the society.

4. Kinds/ Types of Poetry: Aristotle made difference in poetry according to

its medium of imitation, object of imitation and manner of imitation, Horace
distinguishes poetry based on its metre and agreed with old Greek practice that
there is connection between metre and subject matter of poetry. He talks about
the following specific metres for specific composition:

1. For epic- Homer used dactylic hexameter. A dactyl means one long
syllable followed by two short syllables indicated as hexa means six times in the
line. In couplet, the first line is composed in dactylic hexameter and second in
dactylic pentameter (having five feet).

2. For tragedy, comedy & satirical verse- iambic metre. It consists of two
syllables, first short and second long syllable ᴗ-.

For other forms like lyric or song, he advocated other metrical measures as per
the need of poets. He followed the Greek model and suggested the same in
composition of poetry and other forms by showing his respect for old Greek
poetry.

5. Language of Poetry: his views on the language of poetry are largely based
on the views of Aristotle on style. The language of poetry need to be selective
and in accordance with the reader or audience. Here Horace’s views are more
liberal. A poet can choose simple and new diction as well but the primary pre-
requisite for that is it must be clear, effective and expressive. The arrangement

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of diction or words play very significant role in imparting effectiveness to the
composition. Let’s quote his own words:

“Your diction will be excellent if a clever combination renders a familiar word

original…and words new and lately coined will win credit if they descend from
a Greek source, slightly modified.”

He permitted different kinds of words and mundane vocabulary and their apt
combination. The poet also can contribute to the existing diction by coining or
blending new words. It is the skill of the poet how he arranges and rearranges
the words and make them familiar with readers. The skill of a poet lies in the
selection and arrangement of words in composition leading him to the success.

6. The Role of Nature and Art in Poetry: nature means natural gift or
genius and art means skill or training. It is a controversial question in literature
that which is greater or has higher stake in the success of poetry or literature—
genius or art. According to Democritus, a contemporary critic, genius is more
significant and inevitable in the success of a poem or poet. But Aristotle
believed in efforts or training, and on the same line, Horace gave more
preference to art i.e. training and toil. Moreover, he did not consider genius and
training separate but in combination. Both genius and art has equal stake in the
success of a poem, the first is gifted and later can be acquired through skill and
training. Refined skill and training can impart the great success to a poet.

LONGINUS (1ST AD) ON THE SUBLIME

On the Sublime by Longinus is a work of literary criticism thought to date back

to 1st century Rome. While the author is not definitively known, Longinus or
Pseudo-Longinus is typically credited for the work. On the Sublime centers on
aesthetics and the benefits of strong writing. Longinus does this by analyzing
both strong and weak writing from works written over the previous thousand
years.

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The goal, according to Longinus, is to achieve the sublime. In philosophy, the
sublime is a quality of greatness. It can be physical, intellectual, moral,
aesthetic, spiritual, artistic, or metaphysical. Another quality of the sublime is
that it can’t be calculated, imitated, or measured.

On the Sublime is written in epistolary form. An epistolary work is usually

written through letters, journal entries, or a combination of the two. There is a
missing part to this treatise—the final part which reportedly handles the topic of
public speaking. Longinus dedicated the work to one Posthumius Terentianus, a
public figure in Ancient Rome known for being cultured. On the Sublime
includes works by roughly fifty authors including Homer, the famed blind poet
of Ancient Greek culture. Longinus also mentions Genesis, a book in Hebrew
Bible. Because of this, many have assumed that Longinus was either
knowledgeable about Jewish culture, or possibly even a Hellenized (Greek)
Jew.

One of Longinus’ assertions is that in order for one’s writing to reach the
sublime, the writer must possess and exhibit what he refers to as “moral
excellence.” Theories abound that Longinus avoided publishing his writings in
order to preserve his modesty and therefore moral excellence. This might be
another reason why the authorship of On the Sublime is uncertain. Another
main point that Longinus makes is that a writer who transgresses social mores
may not necessarily be a fool or shameless. For Longinus, social subjectivity is
also important. He writes that in order to support spirit and hope, freedom is
necessary. That said, too much freedom can lead to a decline in eloquence,
which according to Longinus, which can hamper one’s ability to write in the
sublime.

To go into sublimity in more depth, Longinus provides five sources that can
lead to this goal: great thoughts, noble diction, dignified word arrangement
strong emotions and particular figures of speech or thoughts. The sublime also

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has a number of specific effects, for which Longinus calls upon readers to
search: the loss of rationality, deep emotion combined with pleasure, and
alienation. That alienation should lead to identifying the creative process in
order to be considered sublime. Longinus simplifies these effects by stating that
a strong writer will not focus on his own emotions, or trying to convey
emotions, but rather to cause the reader to feel those emotions.

In addition, Longinus admires genius in writing. He mentions specific writers in

addition to Homer, including Sappho, Plato, and Aristophanes. Longinus talks
about these writers’ ability to create the sublime by causing readers to feel
pleasure. Other writers on his list are Apollonius of Rhodes and Theocritus for
their sophisticated poetry; however, Longinus says they fail to measure up to
classic writers like Homer because they lack the bravery. Bravery is necessary
to take risks, and taking risks is necessary to reach the sublime. After making
his

points about the sublime, Longinus laments the decline of the oratory arts. The
reason for this is two-fold: it comes from the absence of freedom as well as
moral corruption. These two phenomena, Longinus reminds readers, damages
the high spirit which creates the sublime.

It’s important to note that the use of the English word “sublime” and all its
philosophical associations that accompany arise from multiple translations, but
the word truly means “the essentials of a noble and impressive style.” Longinus’
own writing is rarely described as perfect or even sublime in part because of his
overzealous enthusiasm. This leads to an overuse of hyperbole, or
overstatement, on his part. Longinus is also criticized for writing tediously in
On the Sublime.

By the 10th century, On the Sublime was copied into a medieval manuscript
where it was incorrectly attributed to Dionysius or Longinus, which was

LITT 203 BY NASELS 2021/2022 EXCO | CRITICAL THEORY

misread or mistranslated as Dionysius Longinus, and therefore confused with
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who also lived during the first century. The work
was also attributed to Cassius Longinus, but as he lived from 213-273 C.E., he
cannot be the same Longinus who wrote On the Sublime. Three hundred years
later, references were made by a Byzantine rhetorician to text that might be On
the Sublime. In the 16th century, the treatise was published by Francis
Robortello in Basel, and six years later by Niccolò da Falgano. In the 1600s,
the concept of reaching the sublime becomes a major goal of Baroque literature,
and the treatise is rediscovered. Since then, On the Sublime has received more
attention with each passing century.

LITT 203 BY NASELS 2021/2022 EXCO | CRITICAL THEORY