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American
Literature: Romanticism Student Midterm Samples 2015 1. Long Essay |
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Marissa Holland
March 20, 2015
The Trifecta of the Sublime
American Romanticism contains many
characteristic which make it alike and also distinct from Romanticism of other
eras or regions. One element that is quintessential of most Romanticism and is
also prevalent in American Romanticism is the aesthetics concept of the sublime.
Although it makes appearances in American literature, the sublime seems to be
more heavily rooted in European Romanticism but is still an element that most
students and readers can easily identify as “romantic.” Because the sublime can
encompass nature, awe inspiring landscapes, and passionate emotions that can
overtake the senses, most people associate these aspects with the classic
“romance” narrative. Because of this, the sublime has continued to be a
prominent force in Romanticism no matter what arena the literature is published
in. American authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edgar Allan Poe, and James
Wright have used elements of the sublime in their writings in very unique ways
that help to illuminate just how versatile the sublime can be as a literary
device.
A defining characteristic of the
sublime is ones’ power to transcend the potential threats and dangers that are
presented within a sublime interaction. It is not the absence of fear in a
situation that makes it sublime but instead its presence that is conquered
through rationality that allows someone or something to be deemed sublime. This
transcendence is the ability to logically reason above the initial fears and
emotions that are associated with a sublime interaction. It is through language
that one obtains the ability to reason and to make cognitive decisions when
choosing a reaction; although, it is not just language but instead elevated
language that provides this power as every human, regardless of ranking or
class, has the ability to interact with the sublime. Reasoning that is
associated with this elevated language, however, is only available to those with
the means to an education. Thus, those in power positions control language and
in turn can control the sublime. Like any power struggle, the assertion of one’s
power is in an attempt to separate oneself from the “other.” Whether this other
is an environment, person, or emotion is irrelevant; language contains the same
power in reasoning in either situation.
Without the use of language, the ability to reason and rationalize the
sublime would not be available. Language then is a requirement of an individual
to engage, control, or act as the sublime. It is the availability or absence of
language that many American authors disagree with in terms or European
Romanticism.
In his work
Nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson writes
about his notions that humans need to retreat back to nature and to loosen the
strains that society places upon on individual. To Emerson, this is only
achieved through the individual immersion into a natural setting without
connection to the outside world. This is the most easily identified element of
the sublime in a natural setting. When nature asserts its dominance over a
human, reminding the being of his/her place in the universe and how quickly
nature can either nurture or destroy a setting. When this possible fear is
realized then one has experienced an element of the sublime; but only one
element. Emerson states that when one is solitary and alone with the night sky
and stars that “One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this
design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the
sublime.” While it is possible for one to begin to experience the sublime
through nature, it is only through the rationality provided by language that
allows one to remain within the sublime and not move further into terror.
Emerson seems to understand this notion and is careful to make note that
although he is alone in nature as an individual, “I am not solitary whilst I
read and write, though nobody is with me.” Emerson realizes that although nature
can provide one element of the sublime, it is only half the equation when
keeping a person away from terror or horror. Even though Emerson is well known
in American Romanticism as the “nature writer,” he is still not able to escape
society in total in terms of being able to interact with the sublime.
Like Emerson, Edgar Allan Poe uses
the sublime in his work Ligeia but he
uses the sublime in terms of an over powering emotion and not so much the nature
aspect that Emerson focus upon. When the narrator is faces the death of his
wife, he states:
There had been much in her stern
nature to impress me with the belief that, to her, death would have come without
its terrors;—but not so. Words are impotent to convey any just idea of the
fierceness of resistance with which she wrestled with the Shadow. I groaned in
anguish at the pitiable spectacle. would have soothed—I would have reasoned;
but, in the intensity of her wild desire for life,—for life—but for life—solace
and reason were the uttermost folly.
The narrator was expecting to be
affect with terror in the loss of his wife but he is overwhelmed by the emotions
of himself but also of his wife as she clung to the life she had left. While
this is not nature in the sense of trees and mountains, it is the natural cycle
of life that has brought about a sublime moment for the narrator. Poe even has
his narrator point out that words were not going to be sufficient to pull the
narrator out of the sublime and away from the threat of the potential terrors of
death. This acknowledgement only emphasizes the importance of language as an
element of the sublime. Although Poe uses the sublime as does Emerson, so far
the two authors have utilized the sublime in different aspects but have credited
the unifying element of language and a necessity.
Poet James Wright uses his seemingly simple
poem “A Blessing” to weave in the sublime to the nature scene much like Emerson.
Wright shows a scene of the narrator interacting with two Indian ponies in a
natural environment. However, it is the emotions that this interaction invokes
is what takes the narrator into a sublime moment. One instance of the sublime is
in line seven when the narrator states, “We step over a barbed wire into the
pasture.” This can be seen as the narrator acknowledging the potential danger
and injury of a barbed wire fence and still cognitively choosing to cross this
barrier into nature in order to further interact. This is the most Emersonian
sublime in the poem. From here, Wright seems to use the sublime more like Poe as
it relates to the narrator’s emotions. When the narrator meets the ponies, he
turns his attention to the emotions that they have brought to the surface within
him. He states in lines 22-24, “Suddenly I realize/ That if I stepped out of my
body I would break/ Into Blossom.” It is the breaking into a blossom and not
into destruction that keeps the narrator in the sublime. If destruction was the
ending, it would have progressed from sublime to terror. In a sense, Wright uses
the sublime in both sense of Emerson and Poe and shows how the sublime can
progress from one element to the other throughout the flow of his poem.
American Romanticism is unique in many ways;
however it still carries a quintessential element of Romanticism in terms of
using the sublime. This sublime helps to move the reader into the romantic
narrative as it encompasses nature, emotion, language, and aesthetics. It is the
focus on aesthetics that helps American Romanticism compete in the literature
arena as many other regions of literature place a very high emphasis on
aesthetics and elevated language. While American writers had a style all their
own, they maintained this classic element in order to establish a validity to
their literature. By using the sublime in nature and gothic literature, authors
such Emerson, Poe, and Wright are still able to portray American themes and
ideals in their literature in a way that is true to the reputation and
expectations of Romanticism.
