Soetaniman 1

Alicia Christie Soetaniman

Professor Oventile

English 001B

October 21 2019

Sublimity in its Different Forms

In today’s time, we often come across or use the word sublime when we try to character-

ize something as tremendously beautiful or amazing. In these situations, the sublime implies

something is utterly incredible leaving people with such a jaw-dropping experience that it in-

spires them greatly, rendering them momentarily astonished that makes them hold their breaths

for a bit. But where the sublime originate from? Back in the 1st century AD, a Roman philoso-

pher called Longinus, also known as Pseudo Longinus, eloquently articulated his thoughts about

sublimity in his Greco-Roman work of literary criticism called On the Sublime. Moving onto the

17th century was a self-taught nun called Sor Juana Inés de la Crus, who lived her life as staunch

advocate of women and their rights. She wrote the first feminist manifesto, Respuesta a Sor

Filotea also known as Sor Juana’s Reply, in efforts to defend women and the rights to education.

Alongside that, she wrote a poem known as the Primero Sueño, also known as the First Dream,

about the torturous journey of finding the soul for knowledge. After juxtaposing both Sor Juana’s

Response and the Primero Sueño, they both exhibit sublimity through the interaction between the

human and geological time frame. However, the source of sublimity stimulated in these two

works differ slightly— the sublime of daemonic drive to knowledge and the sublime related to

height, impossibilities, and geometry — within both works respectively.

Longinus wrote On the Sublime as an important treatise of literary criticism. It centers

around the concept that sublimity displays a certain excellence and grandeur in composition dri-

ven by a sense of loftiness and the provocation of ecstasy. According to him, the resulted eleva-

tion raises the style of the art above the ordinary exposing itself of its true nature. He puts much

emphasize on the true sublimity of literature. In Longinus’ On the Sublime, “If an intelligent and

well-read man can hear a passage several times, and it does not either touch his spirit with a

sense of grandeur…then it cannot be an example of true sublimity” (107). In other words, he be-

lieves that true sublime only occurs when readers react to a certain piece of literary work even

after examining it multiple times. The never-ending ability to connect and heighten people’s

emotions when they read literary works is known as true sublimity. Essentially, it will always

appeal and uplift human souls. With that being said, he writes down these set of rules and restric-

tions for what can result to sublimity. In chapter 8 of On the Sublime, he begins his discussion on

the five elements that can make a work of art reach sublimity — grandeur of thought, noble dic-

tion, dignified word arrangement, powerful emotions, and having the particular figures of

speech.

The first principal of sublimity is the grandeur of thought. He believes that a sublime

work can only be created by a writer with sublime thoughts. In chapter 9 of On the Sublime, it

states that “sublimity is the echo of a noble mind” (109). In other words, sublimity is the reflec-

tion of people with great souls. It would be impossible for people with malice and evil thoughts

to produce a work of sublimity. He then suggests that people who strive to attain a distinction of

style should read the works of the great literary masters like Plato and Homer in hopes that they

can obtain their greatness. He explains that many writers “catch fire” from the inspiration of
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people (119). This can be understood from the illustration of the Pythian Priestess. The ground

“breathed out a divine vapor [and impregnated her] thence with the heavenly power, and by

virtue of this afflatus is at once inspired to speak oracles” (119). Breathing the air of a higher di-

vine power allowed her to obtain a degree of enthusiasm. Aside from that, the grandeur of con-

ception is effective if there is an accumulation of details of a subject. This amplifies the magni-

tude of that subject which would in turn magnify the strength of the art. The usage of vivid im-

agery is also useful as it forces readers to understand the concept visually.

The second principle of sublimity is noble diction. Nobility of diction is essentially the

appropriate choice of words and language contains the effective use of both ornamental language

such as metaphors and hyperboles. When words are knitted together harmoniously, there is a

sense of beauty, lending it a grandeur, dignity, and a charming impression. The combination of

words cannot display a sense of timidity or forcefulness but a sense of elegance.

Next, is being able to have a dignified word arrangement. The arrangement of words is

one that combines the different words, emotions, and figures into a unified harmony. By combin-

ing the right words in the right order, it becomes a powerful tool of persuasion and pleasure by

reaching out to the hearts of people, ultimately swaying their emotions. Although the sentence

seems very vulgar, it uses the appropriate words in the perfect timing, ergo stimulating sublimity.

Powerful emotions are key to sublimity. He makes it clear that in any literary writing, the

one thing that contributes most to loftiness of tone in writing is pure emotions. He argues that

nothing contributes to the grand style most than “noble emotion in the right setting, when it

forces its way to the surface in a gust of frenzy, and breathes a kind of divine inspiration into the

speaker's words” (109). With this quote, we can see that he refers heightened emotions as a “gust
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of frenzy” and reaching this height feels as if they were inspired by a power from diving beings.

He highlights that true emotions, when placed correctly, very much contributes to sublimity.

The appropriate use of figures— is crucial in attaining the grandeur of style. Most of the

times, a combination of multiple figures to for one specific purpose has an impactful effect. Tar-

geting the human sensory, just like when certain ingredients combine well together in partnership

and creates an umami effect, the unity of two or more figures, adds persuasiveness and beauty.

However, this concept must be used carefully. If figures that are unrelated to the passion are

used, it creates a false sublimity. Therefore, figures must be emotionally not mechanically con-

nected with thought.

However, sublimity have evolved over the years. With the growing human development,

comes changes in impact it has on the geological frame. In the work of Allan Stoekl’s “After the

Sublime” After the Apocalypse: Two versions of sustainability in Light of Climate Change, he

discusses the sublime stimulated by the interaction between the human and geological time

frame, which in this case is climate change. He speaks about the sublime of externalities and the

sublime as a representation of nature. In both definitions of sublime, it underlies the same con-

cept — going beyond what is possible. In other words, if the human mind tries to take in more

knowledge than it is capable of, there is a glimpse of blindness, which is this case is sublimity.

There is an invisible barrier between the possible and impossible. When the mind takes a step

beyond what is possible, sublimity occurs. In Stoekl’s definitions of sublime, the sublime occurs

when the mind tries to form the formlessness of nature, something that is beyond what is real. On

the other hand, during the interaction between the human and geological time frame, it can be

seen that Sor Juana displays a different kind of sublimity.

Sor Juana’s Respuesta a Sor Filotea was written by her as a response to the incident that

happened in 1690. Sor Juana’s growing popularity in her mastery of literary arts came with the

disapproval of the church in November 1690. During this time, the senior member of the Church

clergy published Sor Juana’s critique of a sermon without her permission, forcefully making her

abandon her focus on secular studies and into religious ones. She then responded with confi-

dence by writing The Response in efforts of defending the rights of women in education.

Clearly, there was a societal expectation —nuns were to focus on theological studies not

secular ones— that were imposed during that time period. Sor Juana has had restrictions and lim-

its enforce on her academic pursuits since the beginning of time. Even her family and sisters did

not agree with her. They had a general skepticism that “such studies are not in conformity with

sacred innocence” (Sor Juana 29). However, her daemon rejects this imposition. In her book,

The Response, she would do everything her power to gain knowledge. In her childhood years, in

pursuit of being educated, she would plea her mother to dress her up as a boy and send her to

Mexico City for education and tutoring, but her Mother disapproved of her request. In response

to that, she began to read many of her grandfather’s books, study Latin grammar, and cut off her

hair as punishment for not being smart enough (15). However, even if she tried to dissuade her-

self from her studies, she would eventually come right back.

Through all this, it can be said that her daemon is a manifestation of her relentless drive

to gain knowledge, which is a natural and innate entity. Since the daemon, by definition, is the

divinity of a nature between gods and humans, or the spirit of an inspiring force, there is a clear

relationship between it and the Earth. As a result, her daemon interacts with her physical human

form as a driving force of sublimity.

An example of this daemon-driven sublimity can be illustrated by her efforts to gain

knowledge. She briefly mentioned that “[she] abstained [herself] from eating cheese because

[she] had heard it made one slow of wits, for in [her] the desire for learning was stronger [than

eating]” (15). Sor Juana, being a Christian nun, was surely familiar with many Christian prac-

tices. Her actions can be connected to a traditional Christian practice called fasting. When people

undergo the process of fasting, they subdue their human needs such as food and water and ele-

vate their spiritual needs, making it easier to connect with God, a spiritual divine being. To put it

simply, instead of being fed by human food and quenched by water, they can be fed by spirit of

the Lord. Similarly, Sor Juana rejects the intake of food to subdue her human needs, strengthen-

ing the bond between her and her spiritual daemon of her thirst to learn. In a sense, she is feeding

her hunger with knowledge to satisfy her daemon. This interaction between human and geologi-

cal time frame stimulates the sublime. According to a journal article released by John Hopkins

University, it stated that “the sublime… demands a worthy conception of the divine power. It ex-

ists, therefore, both as a definition of achievement and as a power or force” (Godolphin 173).

This concept supports well with Sor Juana’s actions. When Godolphin says “worthy conception”

he is suggesting that the in order to comprehend the works of the spirit, there needs to be a sacri-

fice for it to be worthy of a conception. In Sor Juana’s case, her sacrifice is food. There exists a

divine power that lends significance to humans. Hence, every single effort to comprehend the

works of the human spirit will in turn provide an idea of the spiritual realm of a higher reality

resulting in a sublimity. All in all, it can be concluded that in Sor Juana’s The Response, the in-

teraction between the human and geological time frame does indeed spark sublime. However, it

is a sublime driven by her daemonic spirit and her ambition to gain knowledge.
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On the other hand, Sor Juana’s Primero Sueño exhibits different forms of sublimity that

her The Response did not. The poem Primero Sueño is essentially a woman tied in shackles by

society and her desperately wanting to break free from it. In Sor Juana’s poem, her soul goes on a

journey during the night of day, into the darkness of the Earth in an attempt to reach the heights

of the universe for intellectual knowledge. The Primero Sueño is an epistemological poem that

centers around her most compelling desire — her nature to always wonder. The Sueño, which

means dream, starts off with a slumber. Just like how a lot of people find it difficult to fall asleep,

so does falling asleep in the poem. When she falls into a deep slumber, most of the times sublim-

ity occurs.

The first form of sublimity can be seen when Sor Juana’s soul begins to travel far off into

the darkness of the Earth, going further and further away from it to obtain knowledge. In the be-

ginning of the poem, she describes the image of the night as the “pyramidal, doleful, mournful

shadow/ born of the Earth” (Sor Juana 79). The word “pyramidal” allows the readers to depict an

image of a grand and monumental structure that emphasizes its vertical height towards the skies.

The phrase “born of the Earth” also suggests that the night of darkness has a clear relationship

with the Earth, giving it its geological nature. The next few lines then says “attempting to ascend

and touch the stars” (79). In other words, she is suggesting that during the night, her soul at-

tempts to climb up the never-ending darkness. At this moment, it has not been revealed that her

ascent was for knowledge but this will be developed afterwards. Later on, she mentions that the

“stars” were figurative concepts of intellect and she continues to explain how within the dream,

her soul is “free of all/ that binds her, [keeping] her from liberty, the corporeal chains/ that vul-

garly restrain and clumsily/ impede and soaring intellect” (93). To break it down more simply,
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during the day, the psyche is in control of the body. However, going to sleep allows her spirit to

momentarily break free from the chains set by her societal expectations of women and at the

same time, gain more knowledge as she moves closer and closer towards the stars. With Sor Jua-

na’s insatiable desire to comprehend all knowledge, she imagines this vertical flight as an intel-

lectual one. Unfortunately, the attempt to comprehend and take in all the universal knowledge is

impeded when the soul holds an infinite amount of knowledge. Attempting to take it all at once,

the soul is unable to absorb such overwhelming information. Being engulfed in such an unsur-

mountable amount of knowledge, the soul becomes inundated, and here, contemporary sublime

occurs.

A similar concept to this would be the sublime of externalities discussed in Allan Stoekl’s

work that was previously mentioned. The sublime of externalities occur when people attempt to

calculate externalities and come to the realization of its impossibility, resulting them to feel a

sense of awe and confusion. Due to humans’ natural instinct to compute with figures, being un-

able to do so makes their heads spin profusely (Stoekl 44). To understand this concept further,

take externalities as an economic concept. In economical terms, externalities are costs incurred

by a third party that cannot be calculated by monetary value. For instance, an externality of au-

tomobiles would be the contribution of air pollution. Air pollution affects the third parties nega-

tively as it aggravates the quality of air and may impact those with health problems like asthma

by shortening their years of living. The possible loss of years cannot be calculated by monetary

figures for time cannot be measured by money. Due to this, people become rendered in awe of

the incomprehensibility of these computations and knowledge.

The second form of sublimity would the sublimity achieved by the dissolution of the self

through the transcendent experience of the greek word, hypsos, which means height. In contrast

to the first form of sublimity, the freedom Sor Juana experiences in the darkness of the Earth is

soon thwarted by a different kind of sublime. In the Primero Sueño, the sublime centers are

found the soul’s desire to for intellectual knowledge. As the night approaches, the psyche re-

moves itself of its duties while the spirits awakens and begins it quest for knowledge. Within the

dream, she begins to give a depiction of two massive twin pyramids that the soul seeks to com-

prehend. Apprehending those pyramids led them to conjure up images of “the mighty Titan, At-

las, [who] an elf became,” as well as “Mount Olympus” (95). These images of mythical ascents

are indicating that the climb of the ascent will be filled with risks. During the process, she con-

tinuously mentions the idea of punishment that comes along with going beyond. She suggests

that merely gazing upon those monumental figures has its own consequences. The “questing

eye,/exhausted now, and overcome with awe” was how she felt as she gazed up the pyramids.

Similar to Longinus’ concept of hypsos in his On the Sublime is the “height” that the soul travels

during its exploration of knowledge.

In Longinus’ On the Sublime, he discusses his thoughts on height and the ecstasy

achieved through the height or hypsos. Hypsos, which most of the times is associated with the

sublime, occurs when his or her nature rises, attaining new levels of elevation. The pinnacle of

this ascent is said to be the point at which most legendary poet-writers of all times achieve their

fame and fortune (O’Gorman 73, 74). In other words, the elevation of knowledge results in feel-

ings of ecstasy (ekstasis), which is a state beyond reason (logos). This is the pinnacle of knowl-

edge that Sor Juana eagerly seeks to possess, despite its level of impossibility. However, at the
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summit, the overwhelming intake of this ekstasy or knowledge, is just too much for one to

process and ergo that sublimity occurs.

Similar to Longinus’ concept of ekstasis, the journal article, On the Absolute, the Sublime,

and on Ecstatic Truth, speaks about Herzog’s notion of what he calls, ecstatic truth. He mentions

that only in this state of height can there be sublimity which raises the possibility for something

deeper to spark— ecstatic truth (HERZOG, Weigel 1). Ecstatic truth is in a sense the inner, deep-

er cosmological truth that lies underneath what is said to be the pragmatic reality of our Earth.

Herzog continues to expand his thought on this sublimity of ecstatic truth. He uses the The Great

Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner as an example. When a ski champion, Walter Steiner, jumps on

the slope, leaping onto the air, he “flies so frightfully far, he enters the region of death himself:

only a little farther and he would not land on the steep slope, but rather crash beyond it”(12).

When he reached the peak in the air, what seemed like a momental climax, felt like a slowed

eternity. There he was said to be “contorted by [the] fear of death” and “deranged of religious

ecstasy”(12). Religious ecstasy is defined as the state whereby people are more focused on the

spiritual side of themselves instead of their external surroundings. Being brought into a realm of

momentary death, he creates an immediate interaction with the geological time frame. In other

words, when he reached the highest of his jump, he interacts with the nature of the Earth to form

sublimity.

Relating this back to Sor Juana’s pyramidal experience, the summit of the two pyramids

signify the point at which infinite knowledge lies. The human eye can comprehend this much but

but it cannot take it all in. In the Primero Sueño, Sor Juana mentions during the descent that there

she experienced “dizziness, a punishment/ for having ventured to give vision wings”(97). When
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a person looks at the tip of the pyramid from below, dizziness may occur due to its height. How-

ever, Sor Juana says its a punishment possibly because humans are attempting to rival with the

conception of perfect geometry. In a sense, humans think they exist more superiorly than true

geometry. Progressing towards the end of the poem, she mentions that the steps she took to seek

knowledge was too “bold”(116). This might be a hint that there would be consequences in trying

to achieve such knowledge. Another reason for such punishment could be due to the fact that the

twin pyramids are interconnected by the images of the Tower of Babel. The heights of the pyra-

mid creates an immediate connect to the height of Babel as well as its repercussions of the aspi-

rations which built it. The soul, being completely unrestrained from its body, is exposed to the

possibility of the concept of ascent and punishment. Hence, sublimity is driven by infinite

knowledge through the interaction of the human and geological time frame.

The last kind of sublimity would be the sublimity of geometry. Geometry is the perfect

representation of mathematical figures relating to lines, circles, triangles, and more. Falling in

line with Plato’s ideas, Paul Dixon, expresses his thoughts on how geometry is completely in-

volved with the human imagination and has nothing to do with one’s own perception in the arti-

cle Balances, Pyramids, Crowns, and the Geometry of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (561). He dis-

putes that the reality our eyes register and comprehend are merely “cheap imitations” of pure

geometry. This concept can be illustrated by the example of an object falling into water. When an

object falls into water, it creates this reoccurring wavelength that looks like the reoccurring circu-

lar shape. Recall that from a mathematical standpoint, the formula for the circumference of a cir-

cle is the multiplication of 2, pi and r. However, in water, the circular shape formed are not per-
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fect circles and hence not ideal. It is a mere imitation of what is ideal. In a sense, the water is at-

tempting to reincarnate circular geometry, but fails to do so.

Connecting back to Sor Juana’s Primero Sueńo, the sublime of geometry can also be seen

when she was gazed upon the two twin pyramids. Pyramids were originally known to be ancient

models of geometry that were mere mathematical approximations of an idea. When Sor Juana

looked at the pyramid, her mind immediately thought of the geometrical structure of an ideal

pyramid, but was not. So, she begins to trail up unto the vertex of the structure, in attempt to un-

derstand and take in the pureness of geometry. However, this was impossible for it as merely an

approximation and ergo, an imitation. In Paul Dixon’s article, he mentions that Sor Juana’s

Primero Sueńo contained many self-reversing forces. What he means by this is that once some-

thing reaches its apex, it must always come to a descent. According to him, there will always be

a turning point in the El Sueńo. He mentions that in her poem, “the hunter becomes the hunted,

the lungs inhale and exhale, and the eyes took in so much that they turned blind”(Dixon 563). A

sense of balance and fairness can be observed, He continues to say that “the dreamer, after her

intellectual ascent to the mountain peak, must likewise descend. The rising impulse, the height of

the achievement and the final frustration are all embodied in the vertex”(564). He is suggesting

that Sor Juana’s journey of comprehending the the pyramid’s pure geometry at first led her to rise

up in ascent. As one increases its ascent in height, it also takes in more knowledge of pure geom-

etry. However, at the summit of the pyramid, it would be impossible to absorb all that awe. Sor

Juana mentions that at that moment there was a “sublime pyramid of the mind” where in the soul

“[ascended] so far beyond above itself, it/ fancied it sore to some new region”(101). At that pin-

nacle, she felt extreme freedom and glory. She was faced with overwhelming intellect, compre-
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hension, and beauty that at that moment, it was too much to take in. Hence, there is sublime dri-

ven by geometry through the interaction between the humans geological forces.

All in all, sublimity is truly the grandeur of excellence. It can be seen that Longinus’ con-

cept of sublimity undoubtedly exists and can be seen in many examples. However, it does not

exist in one form, but many. Sor Juana displays different concept of sublimity through two of her

significant works — Respuesta a Sor Filotea and Primero Sueńo. She focuses on the sublimity

driven by her daemonic desire to learn in The Response whereas focusing on the sublime of

height or hypsos, infinite knowledge, and geometry in the Primero Sueńo.

Work Cited

Dixon, Paul B. “Balances, Pyramids, Crowns, and the Geometry of Sor Juana Ines De La

Cruz.” Hispania, vol. 67, no. 4, 1984, pp. 560–566. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/341910.

Godolphin, F. R. B. “The Basic Critical Doctrine of ‘Longinus," On the Sublime.” Transactions

and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, vol. 68, 1937, pp. 172–

183. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/283262.

HERZOG, WERNER, and Moira Weigel. “On the Absolute, the Sublime, and Ecstatic

Truth.” Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics, vol. 17, no. 3, 2010, pp. 1–

12. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40645998.

O'Gorman, Ned. “Longinus's Sublime Rhetoric, or How Rhetoric Came into Its Own.” Rhetoric

Society Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 2, 2004, pp. 71–89. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/

40232412.

STOEKL, ALLAN. “‘AFTER THE SUBLIME," AFTER THE APOCALYPSE: TWO VER-

SIONS OF SUSTAINABILITYIN LIGHT OF CLIMATE CHANGE.” Diacritics, vol.

41, no. 3, 2013, pp. 40–57. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43304242.