Longinus's rhetorical criteria and Burke's sensory-emotional framework: A Comparison

Hareshwar Roy,
When we look at a massive, thunderstorm-swept mountain, we feel a deep, overwhelming thrill. For centuries, thinkers have tried to explain why certain things move us so deeply. Two of the best guides for this are Longinus, an ancient Greek teacher, and Edmund Burke, an eighteenth-century philosopher. Longinus focuses on the power of great words to lift our souls, while Burke focuses on how physical sensations trigger our deepest fears. Together, they show us two different paths to the same powerful experience: the sublime.

Longinus believes that greatness comes from the mind and flows through language. For him, the emotional effect of art is a sudden elevation of the soul. When we hear an incredibly noble thought or a beautifully crafted sentence, it hits us like a lightning bolt. We do not just listen; we feel lifted up, as if we created the grand idea ourselves. Longinus relies on high moral character, intense passion, and the perfect arrangement of words to sweep the audience away into a state of pure wonder.

Burke, on the other hand, roots his aesthetic effect in our bodies and our senses. He argues that the sublime is built on a gentle form of terror. When we face things that are dark, vast, silent, or incredibly powerful, our instincts for self-preservation kick in. Because we are actually safe while looking at these dangerous things, our fear turns into a thrilling delight. Burke does not care about noble words; he cares about how shadows, deep echoes, and endless spaces physically make our hearts race.

The main difference between the two lies in where the feeling starts. Longinus offers an active, intellectual high that starts in the mind and expands outward through great literature. Burke offers a reactive, bodily thrill that starts in our senses and locks us in awe of Nature's sheer size. Longinus wants to inspire and ennoble us, making us feel great and powerful. Burke wants to stun and overwhelm us, making us feel beautifully small against a massive universe.

In the end, both thinkers map out the peaks of human emotion, but they start on opposite sides of the mountain. Longinus proves that human speech and thought can rise to match the heavens, creating an emotional triumph. Burke proves that our physical senses can turn terror into a breathtaking masterpiece of experience. Whether we are moved by the perfect power of a speech or the dark vastness of a midnight sky, these two frameworks help us understand why the world can steal our breath away.
(Content generated with the help of Gemini AI)
Location: B-37, City Homes Colony, Jawahar Nagar Satna, Madhya Pradesh, India
Currently Dr. Roy is working as Professor of English at Govt. P.G. College Satna, Madhya Pradesh. He is the author of the following books: (1) Diasporic Articulation in the Novels of M.G. Vassanji (2) A Study of M.G. Vassanji 's Novels (3) Varieties of Indianity in the Works of M.G. Vassanji & Rohinton Mistry (4)Diaspora & Indian Diaspora: A Brief Study (5) Short Notes of English Literature - I (6) Short Notes of English Literature - II (7) हमार पहचान ह भोजपुरी - भोजपुरी कविता संकलन (8) हमरा प्यार हो गइल - भोजपुरी गज़ल संकलन (9) भोजपुरी कविताएँ

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