Thursday 5 January 2012

Definition of "The Sublime"

Before I progress any further, I thought it would be important to explain why I christened my blog with this name. The patent reason? It is sublime for its content. Sublime taken at face value- referring to dictionary definitions, means somthing of high intellectual worth; not to be excelled; supremely exquisite and impressive.
 

  In my previous semester in English literature, I was enlightened on its literary meaning. The sublime I allude to in my blog's title, is akin to the sublime Joseph Addison and Edmund Burke speak of in their essays in "The Norton Anthology." They unravel the word's real and fundamental essence. That which is "great, uncommon or beautiful," out of the ordinary and awe-inspiring. Sometimes even a mixture of delight and disgust provoke an experience of the sublime. The sublime over-whelms us. As readers we always yearn for this, so that our minds can be opened up to novel ideas and possibilities. The sublime is a form of escapism from the constraints of reality, where one can transcend to an imaginative, creative and enigmatic realm.
  The sublime is not confined to one aspect, it encorporates something's entire view. A classic example is a view of Paris from the top of the Eiffel tower. Sparkling so profusely, we feel like our eyes are swimming in diamonds. Shimmering with majestic ripples from an exotic and forgotten golden age. The sublime is present by nature's "rude kind of magnificence", it reminds us how small we are, with respect to the world we live in.  As Addison affirms, "our imagination loves to be filled with an object, or to grasp at anything that is too big for its capacity."
   
In my blog I shall post a variety of photos, art, music, mini essays and poems. There is no thematic link between them but each proposes new musings, which have opened up my mind and I wish have the likewise effect on you.




Photos I took from the top of the Eiffel Tower

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