Longinus

The obvious component of Longinus' philosophy is that of the sublime, which pertains to rhetorical text, literary analysis, poetry and prose. The sublime, according to Longinus "consists in a consummate excellence and distinction of language." In other words, the sublime is an elevation of style, simplicity, and fills people with joy. I think Longinus feels that literature is "above the ordinary," which he classifies as successful writing. He believes great thought, emotion, certain figures of speech/wording, and word arrangement promote success according to the sublime. I think Longinus proposes some useful, fulfulling ideas on good literature, and believe his philosphy was unique and new for its time. What I took out of this chapter was that Longinus far more focused on the importance of style, rather than the norm of his time, which seemed to be the importance of technicality of writing.