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(2017
midterm assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2017 #3: Web Highlights (Index) |
LITR 4328 |
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Justin Murphy
Learning Complexity in the Sublimity
When searching through our class website for assignments to highlight, I
was especially interested in looking for assignments that covered the sublime.
The sublime is something that I wasn’t necessarily familiar with when coming
into American Renaissance, but now I feel like I have a better understanding of
it. Through examining three different essays covering the sublime, I learned how
it is more than being in awe of nature.
The first essay which caught my attention was Kimberly Hall’s essay “The
Sublime: A Study in Emotional Contrast.” She states how the sublime can be
something both beautiful and terrifying. Ms. Hall’s essay really gives me a
vivid view into what the sublime is, especially in relation to romanticism. She
states in her fourth paragraph “gothic Romanticism would depict [the sublime] as
terrifying to the point of beautiful.” The sublime isn’t just being in awe of
something, as I previously thought. It is looking at something frightening and
then seeing the beauty in that freight. The sublime is then essential to
Romanticism as it helps the reader feel strong emotions.
In Victoria Narcisse’s essay “Sublime: The Beautiful, The Terrifying, and
the Ridiculous,” Victoria talks about how the sublime is found in the
ridiculous. She focuses on the party in the Catskill Mountains from
Rip Van Winkle and how the oxymoron
used is sublime. She states in her final paragraph “a party is supposed to be
about fun…” however as we know, Rip doesn’t experience fun at this party; he
feels melancholy rather than exuberant joy. As I was reading
Rip Van Winkle, this passage stuck
out to me too. Why would Rip feel melancholy? Victoria makes the argument that
it’s because the party is a part of the sublime. The ridiculous nature of
Rip Van Winkle is what makes it
sublime. Through reading her essay, I was able to bring some kind of closure to
my confusion on Rip Van Winkle.
However, the essay which really helped me in understanding the sublime is
Karin Cooper’s. Cooper ventures into how the sublime fits specifically into the
gothic, and how that relates to our world today. Cooper defines the sublime as
the feeling you get when seeing something awe-inspiring. It’s those moments that
leave you breathless and speechless. Cooper gives an example of the sublime in
today’s world: “In television, the sublime can be seen in sweeping views of
great landscapes, battles, or cities.” By giving this example, Cooper is able to
show the reader exactly what the sublime looks like in today’s world. For me,
this is crucial to my understanding of the sublime. A lot of times we can talk
about the sublime in literature and fail to connect it to other pieces of work.
When Cooper does this, she shows us that American Romanticism is still present
today.
By reading these essays, I was able to gain a better understanding of a
key component of American Renaissance. Each essay further my understanding in
how the sublime can be applied in texts, and how the sublime is still a crucial
part of today’s world.
