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BURKE'S CONCEPT OF THE SUBLIME: THOMSON'S "THE SEASONS" AND TURNER'S PAINTING

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Date Issued:
1984
Summary:
Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful provided the latter eighteenth century with a systematic theory of the sublime that was based on the surge of enthusiastic emotion one experiences when observing the astonishing peril of nature's magnificence. Burke concluded, a decade after James Thomson's final edition of The Seasons, that poetry, by its "most lively and spirited verbal description ... raises a very obscure and imperfect idea" of landscape. Poetry, Burke wrote, produces stronger emotions than does painting, which he relegated to the neoclassic idea of a clear imaging of nature. Had he the timely advantage of experiencing the sketches and paintings of the neoclassically influenced painter, J. M. W. Turner, Burke would have acknowledged the sublime emotions, astonishment and terror. Furthermore, Burke could have acclaimed Turner's sublime as more affective, as it identified a boundlessness achieved by a greater understanding of obscurity.
Title: BURKE'S CONCEPT OF THE SUBLIME: THOMSON'S "THE SEASONS" AND TURNER'S PAINTING.
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Name(s): CLUTE, PRISCILLA STRANG.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Sloane, Mary, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 1984
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 117 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful provided the latter eighteenth century with a systematic theory of the sublime that was based on the surge of enthusiastic emotion one experiences when observing the astonishing peril of nature's magnificence. Burke concluded, a decade after James Thomson's final edition of The Seasons, that poetry, by its "most lively and spirited verbal description ... raises a very obscure and imperfect idea" of landscape. Poetry, Burke wrote, produces stronger emotions than does painting, which he relegated to the neoclassic idea of a clear imaging of nature. Had he the timely advantage of experiencing the sketches and paintings of the neoclassically influenced painter, J. M. W. Turner, Burke would have acknowledged the sublime emotions, astonishment and terror. Furthermore, Burke could have acclaimed Turner's sublime as more affective, as it identified a boundlessness achieved by a greater understanding of obscurity.
Identifier: 14219 (digitool), FADT14219 (IID), fau:12681 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1984.
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Subject(s): Burke, Edmund,--1729-1797
Turner, J. M. W.--(Joseph Mallord William),--1775-1851--Criticism and interpretation
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14219
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
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Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.