Week 7-9

 1. How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples from Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. 

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     Describe what Sublime is + where it is used? 

     What are some examples in Blake's song of innocence and songs of experience?

     Explain

   According to Burke (1757), he defines sublime, 

‘Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain, and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling.’'

To understand this definition, he breaks down that sublime is another word of "danger or pain". Well, that probably doesn't make sense, but I will explain it. Shmoop Editorial Team (2008) stated that Romantic poets love writing about how much they loved nature or anything to do with quality (para 3.) He explains that the feeling of danger and terror makes their poem far more exciting and which creates a connection with their audience. 

Shmoop (n.d.) makes us understand clearer-

"Nature + powerful emotion = the Sublime."

I personally do understand what Shoomp (n.d) and Burke (1757) because to make a story interesting, you gotta have powerful emotions to create an account. Sublime is a critical aspect of the Romanticism world because of sublime- many future romantic poets have been influenced by Burke (1757) theory. 

For example, Mcevory (2016) examines Blake's Songs of Innocence by the poem, "The Tyger." 

Blake's collections of the song are about childhood and innocents. "The Tyger" is the shorted bu the most famous poem that William has created in his collections of songs. The poem is made up of a lot of different questions, which makes the viewers question about the sublime. The poem deals issues like "God, Knowlege and mystical." )Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008, para 3).

So, back to the question. Here are some examples of sublime which I found by reading Mcevoy (2016) explanation. William Blake's poem shows his poem is a "fearful symmetry." Shmoop Editorial team (2008) helps me understand the first example, "forests of the night", to show a sense of terror, danger and awe-inspiring moment for us as the viewers. We see how hooking William writes at the start to draw the audience in. In addition, I do believe that "The Tyger" is filled with fearful, deadly terrors for the audience so which makes them think about what's gonna happen next or is it the ending of the Tyger. 

APA Style

References section (at end of paper):

Burke, E., & Boulton, J. T. (2008). A philosophical enquiry into the sublime and beautiful. Routledge Classics. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat05020a&AN=aut.b11300759&site=eds-live

Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). Sublime. Retrieved June 2, 2019, from https://www.shmoop.com/british-romanticism/sublime-characteristic.html

Mcevory, B. (2016, November 22). What Is Sublime? A Super Quick Introduction in the Context of Romantic Poetry. Retrieved from https://benjaminmcevoy.com/sublime-super-quick-introduction-context-romantic-poetry/