The Romantic Sublime: Studies in the Structure and Psychology of Transcendence

by Thomas Weiskel

Overview

Originally published in 1976. In The Romantic Sublime Thomas Weiskel investigates the concept of the sublime in the poetry of English Romantic writers. His work infuses elements of structuralism and psychological thought in his attempt to describe and demystify the sublime experience—or, in his words, to "desublimate the sublime." In doing so, he demonstrates that the sublime is largely mystified, and he contrasts those with faith in the awesomeness of sublimation and those who remain skeptical of the sublime's mystifying power. In working to demystify the sublime, Weiskel emphasizes the task of intelligence by assigning morality and intellect the value of mistrust in sublimation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421436142
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2019
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Thomas F. Weiskel was a professor of English at Yale University.

Table of Contents

Foreword
A Personal Introduction
Part I. The Sublime Moment
Chapter 1. Approaching the Romantic Sublime
Chapter 2. The Ethos of Alienation: Two Versions of Transcendence
Chapter 3. Darkning Man: Blake's Critique of Transcendence
Part II. The Psychology of the Sublime
Chapter 4. The Logic of Terror
Chapter 5. The Sublime as Romance: Two Texts from Collins
Chapter 6. Absence and Identity in the Egotistical Sublime
Part III. The Liminal Sublime
Chapter 7. Wordsworth and the Defile of the Word
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

Harold Bloom

Weiskel's attempt is itself sublime . . . Perhaps it will always mark one of the limits of twentieth-century criticism of the High Romantic poets.

From the Publisher

Weiskel's attempt is itself sublime . . . Perhaps it will always mark one of the limits of twentieth-century criticism of the High Romantic poets.
—Harold Bloom