Sample from Burke

Of the Passion Caused by the Sublime

THE PASSION caused by the great and sublime in nature, when those causes operate most powerfully, is astonishment; and astonishment is that state of the soul, in which all its motions are suspended, with some degree of horror. 1 In this case 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. Hence arises the great power of the sublime, that, far from being produced by them, it anticipates our reasonings, and hurries us on by an irresistible force. Astonishment, as I have said, is the effect of the sublime in its highest degree; the inferior effects are admiration, reverence, and respect.

Works Cited Entry for the Whole Book

Burke, Edmund. A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of
     The Sublime and Beautiful. The Harvard Classics. New York: Collier and
     Son, 1909-14.    Bartleby.com.  4 February, 2005. 
     .

Works Cited Entry for This Section

Burke, Edmund.  “Of the Passion Caused by the Sublime” A Philosophical
     Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of The Sublime and Beautiful.
     The Harvard Classics. New York: Collier and Son, 1909-14. Bartleby.com. 
     4 February, 2005. .