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LITR 4232 American
Renaissance 2010 Student Midterm Samples 2. Short essay (4-6 paragraphs) on 1 of 2 options (or combinations as inspired) :
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Kat Henderson
Dark and Light: Two Faces of the Sublime
From
Nature
“Crossing a bare common, in snow
puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any
occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am
glad to the brink of fear. In the woods too,
a
man casts off his years,
as the snake his slough,
and at what period soever of life, is always a child.
In
the woods, is perpetual youth.”
From
Ligeia
“Rushing
to the corpse, I saw—distinctly saw—a tremor upon the lips. In a minute
afterward they relaxed, disclosing a bright line of the pearly teeth.
Amazement now struggled
in my bosom with the profound awe
which had hitherto reigned there alone. I felt that my
vision grew dim, that my reason wandered; and it was only by a violent effort
that I at length succeeded in nerving myself to the task which duty thus once
more had pointed out.”
A pivotal concept to understanding Romanticism in
literature is the idea of the sublime.
When something is sublime it is more than just
exceptionally beautiful.
It is beautiful to the point that it becomes scary
or terrifying.
It reaches the profound and begins to strike fear
into the heart.
Romantic authors use sublime experiences in many
forms.
It is commonly used to describe
encounters with nature, such as in Emerson’s
Nature,
but it can also be used for darker purposes, such as in Poe’s
Ligeia.
While the usages are different, both instances of
the sublime fill the reader with a sense of amazement and dread.
Emerson, a Transcendentalist writer, uses the sublime when
describing the sense of reverence people should feel when viewing nature.
In chapter one of
Nature,
Emerson says that at twilight while under a cloudy sky he has experienced
“perfect exhilaration.”
The use of exhilaration leads the reader to
understand that the speaker is experiencing more than just a passing thrill.
This strong noun hints that the reader is leaning
towards the sublime.
In the next sentence Emerson says that he is glad
“to the brink of fear” which is a classic depiction of the sublime.
He continues with the unnerving descriptions by
comparing a man to a snake shedding his slough.
Emerson uses these examples of sublime to show how
all people should feel about their experiences with nature.
In this passage, Emerson is describing how twilight
experienced in a treeless town square still inspires in him a profound sense of
awe.
In contrast to Emerson, Poe uses the sublime to create a
dark atmosphere in his Gothic writings.
In
Ligeia,
the sublime is used to accentuate the sense of morbid glee the speaker feels at
the reanimation of his wife’s corpse.
The use of the words “rushing” and “tremor” pave
the way for a sublime encounter by increasing the already building tension to
the limits of human capacity.
The description of amazement struggling with awe
shows the dual nature of the sublime.
While the speaker feels astonishment that Rowena is
returning to life, this joy is quickly turning dark and terrifying.
His terror grows to such a point that his vision
dims, his reason wanders, and he has to “nerve” himself into completing his
task.
The wonder felt over regained life reaches the sublime and
then melts away into pure terror.
When compared to other aspects of Romanticism in
literature, the sublime emerges as a way for contrasting concepts to meld
together.
For example, Transcendentalism and Gothicism are the
central subcategories of Romanticism.
Transcendentalism deals with transcending from a
state of lower existence to one of more meaning and depth while the Gothic deals
with the dark, eerie, and more horrifying aspects of life.
Sublimity builds a bridge between these two by
showing how beauty and the magnificent can become a source of dread.
It also works in reverse, showing the perfect
exquisiteness that can be found in the morbid.
This dual usage brings the dark and light of life
into a closer proximity, which is a main theme of Romantic literature.
