Project Gutenberg #17957
On the Sublime
Longinus
50The ancient treatise on what makes writing great: grand thought, strong feeling, figures, noble diction, and dignified composition, in H. L. Havell's translation with Andrew Lang's introduction.
Project Gutenberg #17957 Public domain in the United States Cover source Local typographic cover created for The Missing Workbook from public-domain source metadata
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Sublimity is further diminished by cramping the diction. Deformity instead of grandeur ensues from over-compression. Here I am not referring to a judicious compactness of phrase, but to a style which is dwarfed, and its force frittered away. To cut your words too short is to prune away their sense, but to be concise is to be direct. On the other hand, we know that a style becomes lifeless by over-extension, I mean by being relaxed to an unseasonable length.