SUBLIME

Sublime

Sublime

According to Webster dictionary, Sublime means the “awakening or expressing the sentiment of adoration, awe, heroic resolve, veneration, etc.; solemn; stately; dignified; grand; -- said of an impressive object in nature, of an action, of a discourse, of a work of art, of a spectacle, etc”. It also means anything which is impressive in art or nature, as distinguished from the beautiful (Brennan, 1987, 35).

The word 'sublime' is used informally today as an indistinct superlative. Though, in particular in the areas of art history, cultural criticism, literary studies or philosophy, it has a collection of more literal definition. It can be employed to communicate to the ecstatic, uplifting, sacred or spiritual. More specifically, it is also employed to communicate to the awe-inspiring, the extravagant or grand. For some, the sublime is that which is extremely monumental or influential. For others, the sublime is that which is not graspable, unbelievable or not presentable. Most importantly, the sublime has come to refer to the rush of acute aesthetic delight absurdly branching from the discontentment of horror, pain or fear. Although semantically matched with the beauty, the sublime has naught like its prevalence. The usage of the word can even hit some individuals as exaggerated: to describe a work sublime is quite like describing it as divine.

The explanation of beauty and sublime as an aesthetic linguistic pair are embedded in discourses on visual art, literature, nature and language. Before exploring the explanation of the words jointly, it is crucial to present the applicable explanations of each word separately. The English Dictionary of Oxford explains beauty as, “(1) excelling in grace of form, charm of colouring, and other qualities which delight the eye, and call forth admiration, (2) affording keen pleasure to the senses generally, (3) impressing with charm the intellectual or moral sense, through inherent fitness or grace, or exact adaptation to a purpose, and (4) relating to the beautiful; aesthetical”. The Oxford Dictionary explains the adjectival 'sublime' (in relation of stuff in art and nature) like “affecting the mind with a sense of overwhelming grandeur or irresistible power; calculated to inspire awe, deep reverence, or lofty emotion, by reason of its beauty, vastness, or grandeur” (Burke, 1756, 57).

Whilst these explanations are employed in the relation among 'sublime' or 'beauty,' it boil down to: being delighting to the mind somehow (beautiful), and arousing an overcoming highness or immenseness, either in nature, experience, art or ideas (sublime). This is, naturally, altering words which have been so heatedly argued in philosophic circle for thousands of years. Nevertheless, for the purpose of enlightening their relations to one another in the broad area of media theories, it is a necessity to contrast them on an essential level (Burke, 1756, 57).

The sublime has been a preponderate conception of aesthetic in Western art theory and philosophy, having its more denotative expression in philosophy of early eighteenth century. Its occurrence as a conception in Native American aesthetics is not as plainly declared as it is in Western thinking, but there is ...