LITERATURE: On The Sublime – That Beyond Order

I would think that words, and I have found them as gems glittering amid the coal black text, can be as breathtaking as a sunset, or a painting, or a newborn child.  Here is what Longinus has to say about what he hopes to describe as the sublime:

The effect of elevated language upon an audience is not persuasion but transport. At every time and in every way imposing speech, with the spell it throws over us, prevails over that which aims at persuasion and gratification. Our persuasions we can usually control, but the influences of the sublime bring power and irresistible might to bear, and reign supreme over every hearer. Similarly, we see skill in invention, and due order and arrangement of matter, emerging as the hard-won result not of one thing nor of two, but of the whole texture of the composition, whereas Sublimity flashing forth at the right moment scatters everything before it like a thunderbolt, and at once displays the power of the orator in all its plenitude. (Chapter 1, Part 4)

In speeches, yes; Martin Luther King’s "Free at last" and others.  In books, I’ve found much such heart-stopping prose that I need to read again.  Like multiple orgasms the moment hits again and again, leaving one weak and fully sated, yet greedy and ready for one more.