Longinus
Longinus was a Greek teacher of rhetoric and literary critic. Scott James called him 'first romantic critic'. He is well known for his aesthetic treatise On the Sublime. Sublime means loftiness and excellence in language. On the Sublime focuses on the effect of good writing. Longinus emphasized, “to be a truly great writer authors must have moral excellence”. He promotes 'Elevation of style’. According to Longinus the Sublime has the following features:
- It is the essence of all great Poetry and oratory.
- It valorizes a special use of language.
- It is a matter of reader- response.
Longinus in his On the Sublime finds five principal sources of the Sublime.
- Grandeur of thought
- Vivid portray of the passion / capacity for strong emotion
- The appropriate use of figure of speech
- Suitable diction and metaphors
- The majestic composition or structure of the whole work
Quotations by Longinus
- “Sublimity is the echo of noble mind”.
- “ literature is the nature of revelation”.
- “Poetry has the character of oracle”.
Horace (65-08 B.C)
- He was a romantic classicist who lived in the first century BC.
- He wrote Epistles to the Pisos later known as Ars Poetica.
- Horace stated, "the aim of poetry is to instruct, or to delight or both".
- Ars Poetica or the Art of Poetry is a poem by Horace in which he advised poets on the art of writing poetry and drama.
- Ars Poetica exercised a great influence on European literature notably on French drama.
