Edmund Burkes-Sublime and Beautiful, What does it mean?

[IamMyself]

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[mayneverhave]

I believe Burke theorized that the sublime brought out feelings of dread or terror, often associated with gigantism.

I always think of Hamlet's first encounter with the ghost of his father, but anyone with eyes should be able to pick out examples of dread or terror in a painting.

[IamMyself]

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[Uroboros1989]

hmmm... Burke's essay was very interesting and gave a definition of gothicism in Literature (especially in British one) Maybe nowadays it's not astonishing because in XXI century we know that we are determined by our sadistic, innermost feelings defined by Freud. We are attracted by bizarre things because it's exciting. (Of course the intesification of this liking depands on our sensitivity) In preromantic period gothic novels attracted many followers because people desired something new, strange, bizarre, etc... They wanted to read something that could stand out from certain canon of themes: medieval romance, sentimental novels and so on... :)