The Sublime: An Assertion of Man

The Sublime is not an objective concept, what is really out there in the world. It is a concept invented by men for certain purposes. This paper examines what those purposes are and how the Sublime presentation of Nature in paintings and poetry serve those purposes.
The Sublime is a relative concept. It can be explained only in terms of an extreme difference between two things. Rather it is the emotion experienced by a puny, insignificant thing when encountered or threatened by something that is immeasurably larger than itself and something that is beyond its capacity to comprehend, control and withstand. Yet it is not just fear and an instinctive urge to escape. It is rather a moment of transfixion when a desire is felt, to share that power and force. This transfixion and desire can be felt only by a being which is though puny and insignificant, is empowered with intellect to recognize might and power and be exhilarated by it, if not to control and manage it. Here is where the politics of the sublime begin to surface. Firstly the eminence shifts from the object of awe to the one experiencing the awe. Secondly not every being is in possession of such an intellect; not even all men but certain men.

In the above painting by Philip Jacques de Loutherbourg’s called ‘Avalanche in the Alps’ we see massive rocks of ice and chunks of snow tumbling and flowing down with tremendous speed and force, destroying everything in their way, towards three helpless people- a woman and two men- and a dog. Here we see three different kinds of reactions to the calamity. The man by the left side of the woman, as suggested by his pose, is about to run but stops and turns to look up to the Avalanche with his hands raised and clasped together in worship as if pleading for mercy. The woman and the dog are running without a second thought. The second man is not panicked and is least perturbed. Even his hat is in place unlike the other man’s. But he is overwhelmed. He is standing with his legs apart and hands spread, holding a staff in one as though ready to face the Avalanche and be swept off by it.  

The first man acknowledges and admires power but his is a slavish worship. He bows down in front of power (figuratively speaking), begs and pleads it for mercy. Nevertheless he can recognize power and be moved by it. Both the woman and the dog run for their lives. For them the Avalanche is a mere danger to be escaped; there is nothing awe- inspiring about it. They are beings who merely live following their instincts. The second man not only recognizes power and is moved by it but stands up to it. Even though he will die, he will die being a part of something so dynamic and tremendous.

In this painting we can unearth certain class and gender politics. The man who stands up to the Avalanche, with his hat, staff and red coat more or less seems to be man of an upper class. The other two people look like commoners. The painting implies that only men of a certain class can recognize Nature’s power and stand up to it. Men of other classes may recognize Nature’s power but will not stand up to it. They will only fall upon their knees and worship and women like animals are base, instinctive creatures not open to sublime experiences.

I said in the first paragraph that the Sublime is a moment of transfixion when a desire is felt to share the power and force of something that is extremely larger than us, something that is beyond our comprehension and control. This desire to share the power also implies a desire to be as powerful and invincible, to compete with it and take its place. The man’s act of standing up to the Avalanche issues a statement that despite his insignificance compared to the ever mighty Nature and his possible defeat he will fight it. The painting does not represent the power of Nature; it is subverting it. It is the fighting spirit of man; a class of men rather; that is being showcased here. Moreover the man is challenging what is feared and worshiped by other men. Hence the challenge states his desire for supremacy not only over Nature but also over them.

A similar subversion of Nature takes place in Shelley’s ‘Ode to the West Wind’. The poem begins and continues with a spectacular, graphic description of the West Wind’s sway over the earth, sky and water until the fourth canto where Shelley suddenly shifts our attention towards himself. He evinces a desire to be carried away by the West Wind like a leaf, a cloud and a wave and thereby be able to feel its tremendous energy being transfused into him. He not only wants to be carried away by it and flow along with it but also wants to ‘outstrip’ it. He also equates himself with it. He says he is everything what the West Wind is but is ‘only less free’ than it and is ‘chained’ and ‘bowed’ by ‘a heavy weight of hours’. This implies that the only difference between him and the West Wind is that it is timeless and he is not.  Ageing and death are his only deterrents. He wishes to acquire that timelessness by using the West Wind as a device to forever propagate his ideas. The following lines reveal this design.

‘Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:

What if my leaves are falling like its own!

The tumult of thy mighty harmonies

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,

Sweet though in sadness.’

In the above lines he is equating himself to the forest. Even though he is weak and his strengths are declining (like falling leaves) there is still strength left in him enough to withstand the might and force of the West Wind. Then he says he wants to be the West Wind’s ‘lyre’. A lyre is an instrument which regulates the wind as it blows through it and produces music. He can not only resist the West Wind like a forest but can also regulate it and make music out of it. Then changing from a reverent to a commanding tone he bids the West Wind as follows.

‘Be thou, Spirit fierce,

My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe,

Like wither’d leaves to quicken a new birth!’

Here he is channelling the wind to serve his ends. He is assigning a path and a purpose to what was once wild and chaotic. He further says:

‘Be through my lips to unawakened Earth

The trumpet of a prophecy!’

What is an agent of destruction and death is itself turned into a sign of hope – ‘the trumpet of prophecy’. The poem begins with a respectful address- ‘O wild West Wind’, but by the time it comes to the end the tone becomes condescending and belittling.

‘O wind,

If Winter comes can spring be far behind?’

He is telling the West Wind that though it is timeless it is a part of a cycle, that all the destruction and death it brings will soon be followed by the rebirth and revival of Mankind. It may resurge but so will Mankind.

In the third canto we see a bright, enthralling image of the Mediterranean. This is the only point in the poem at which we find a pleasing, tranquil picture as opposed to the dynamic, spectacular images running throughout the poem. The scene is a typical picturesque scene. Gilpin says that a picturesque composition consists in uniting in one whole a variety of parts and that it is characterised by boundaries. Now the Mediterranean is enclosed in a bay and the crystalline streams, old palaces, towers, azure moss and flowers combine to render harmony to the picture. It is all orderly, calm and controlled.

David Punter says that the picturesque represents the movement of enclosure and control- the ego’s certainty about the world it can hold and control. Man is pleased with what he can easily comprehend, mould, control and manage but he cannot rest content with such stability for long; the resulting stagnation is unbearable. He needs something incomprehensible, uncontrollable and chaotic to struggle through and survive and thereby to assert his strength and calibre, his existence.

Hence it is our need to be awe-struck, to be moved and inspired. All the splendour of the lofty mountains, vast lands and skies etcetera is what we have attached to them. To the Romantic poets and painters that is what Nature is; it has no value by itself.

Bibliography:

1.      Punter, David. “Picturesque and the Sublime: Two Worldscapes”. The Politics of the Picturesque: Literature, Landscape and Aesthetics since 1770. Cambridge University Press. 1994. Google Book Search. Web. 10 September, 2012.