A Peek Through Many Windows

Several essays touched on romantic elements in which I am interested. Students seem drawn to the early American iteration of the gothic and sublime. I was surprised at how much I learned from reading the work of Ronni Abshier, Kimberly Hall, Elizabeth Myers, Timothy Morrow, Adrian Russell and Kat Henderson. More surprising was the value of Morrow’s web review as a window into multiple insightful essays. Through this experience I learned that students fondly remember discovering the sublime, most students are attracted to the sublime and students diverge somewhat in their interpretation of the sublime.

Prior to taking this class, my understanding of the word sublime was extremely limited. Like Ronni Abshier, I had heard the word “on the radio and in reference to beauty and excellence,” but the literary definition was completely new to me and, as it turns out, several other students taking this course over the years. Even students who had some working knowledge of the sublime recalled in their work early experiences with the term or sublime passages. The sublime is one of many concepts that changes a student from a reader into a literary scholar. “While I had not known the term as a child, I recognized the feelings it gave and loved it for its vividness.” In “The Sublime: A Study in Emotional Contrast,” Kimberly Hall describes experiencing the impact of the sublime in writing before she learned the term for it. Hall knew the word and examples of the sublime, but found a deeper understanding through seeing it in the context of the American Renaissance. Discovering the sublime seems to be a touchstone for many students. It is a strange and powerful concept that begs us to overcome our awe and probe its many variations for understanding.

The power of the sublime as a literary tool is a common theme in the model assignments. Students seem drawn to the term more than any other characteristic of American Romantic writing. The reader need not understand literary jargon; sublime passages call upon memories of moments that defy description – moments that everyone has experienced but most cannot articulate. Few literary devices evoke more complicated emotions than the sublime. In “An American look at Romanticism,” Elizabeth Myers makes the point that the sublime is often “a means to illustrate to readers the greatness that exists in the world around us” and causes “enlightening life changing experiences.” That power is what draws literature students. We want to take apart a passage and see how all the parts work, but the words are only partially responsible for the effect. The rest is mysterious, which heightens the attraction.

Though they share an attraction to the sublime, students differ in their interpretation of its effect. Kimberly Hall states, “[the sublime] was asking me to move out of any comfort zones and take in the most pleasurable and terrifying scopes of human emotion at the same time.” In my opinion, the sublime does not ask; it reaches inside the machinery of the mind and wrenches the gears. As students, our understanding continues to evolve as we read and discuss. In some model assignments, students describe the impact of model essays by former students on their evolving conception of the sublime. Timothy Morrow believed that “not many people interact with nature so profoundly as Emerson” until he read an essay by Adrian Russell in which Russell described being inspired by Kat Henderson’s definition of the sublime and then noticing the sublime in his own life. Now I have the opportunity to consider Morrow, Russell and Henderson as I work toward understanding the sublime and its place in American romanticism.

My understanding of the sublime changes and deepens as I type these words and consider the opinions of the students who undertook this journey before me. I underestimated how meaningful reading model assignments would be. I expected to choke through poor grammar and unnecessarily long words to find scraps to quote. Instead I found myself looking at the course materials through many eyes at once and finding insight within this makeshift family tree.