Hazlittの崇高概念

Abstract

Since the concept of the sublime was imported into England, various thinkers gave it various meanings. Wordsworth is one of the most important thinkers among them because he is one of the apotheoses of the aesthetic thoughts of the sublime. We can use Keats' words, "the egotistical sublime" to describe the characteristic of his concept of the sublime. His sublimity is based on the self and has the religious aspect. The other apotheosis of the aesthetic thought of the sublime is in Keats. Keats is the opposite to Wordsworth because he respects the selflessness which is the quailty in his "poetical character." But he has the religious aspect like Wordsworth and tries to go beyond the human. Keats is influenced by Hazlitt. Hazlitt respects the selflessness like keats, but he confines his thought to this world and does not go beyond the human. He tries to gaze on the human and think of the sublime which has relation to the human. In such a sense, Hazlitt is the real opposite to Wordsworth.