Burke provides a unique representation of sublime and beautiful as two different powers that infuse the natural world and the artistic renditions. They imply a contrast between something that causes beautiful and warm feelings (beautiful) and something that causes horror and the strongest negative emotions (sublime). This aspect becomes a subjective response to the perception of a phenomenon. On the other hand, Burke presents them as objective qualities. Hence, love causes love in a person when the sublime is the source of terror and when “the mind is so entirely filled with its object, that it cannot entertain any other, nor by consequence reason on that object which employs it” (Burke135). Thus, sublime and beautiful are entirely different and polar concepts and present as a source-causes effect.
Using two examples of encounter field of daffodils by William and Dorothy Wordsworth, the difference between Sublime and Beautiful can be seen. The main difference between these accounts is the degree of impression they made. Therefore, in Dorothy’s case, it was instant, recorded in the journal with sufficiently simple language and tone. This experience had a positive impact on her and “caused love, or some passions” (Burke 136). On the other hand, the account of William Wordsworth is a vivid representation of the sublime. First, this is due to the fact that he waited two years to celebrate the event. This becomes proof that “it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling” (Burke 135). The man describes his experience through a poetic and subtle style as something frightening; he simultaneously admires and is wary of nature, what left a strong imprint on him.
Work Cited
Burke, Edmund. A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. Cambridge University Press, 1757.