‘The Types and Symbols of Eternity’: the poetics of the sublime in eighteenth-century Britain

Maxwell Stuart, Laurence (2026) ‘The Types and Symbols of Eternity’: the poetics of the sublime in eighteenth-century Britain. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The following work examines the formation and development of a poetics of the sublime across Britain during the eighteenth century. Engaging with the works of formative eighteenth-century theorists, such as Joseph Addison, Samuel Johnson, and Edmund Burke, I outline the problematic status of the sublime as abstract aesthetic ideal, an 'impossibility' which yet prevails in modern aesthetics. Alongside the successive and contested conceptualisation of the sublime as aesthetic, I consider the emergence and interlocution of a distinct mode of poetic praxis centred on, and empowered by, sublimity, a poetics of the sublime, or in the poet's terms¬-- 'the types and symbols of Eternity'. The directive of this thesis is to uncover and analyse this typology of sublime poetics realised throughout the work of James Macpherson, Thomas Percy, James Beattie, Robert Burns, and William Wordsworth.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Supported by funding from the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Keele University, and the British Association of Romantic Studies.
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies
• Funder's Name: British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Keele University, British Association of Romantic Studies
• Supervisor's Name: Leask, Professor Nigel and Porter, Professor Dahlia
• Date of Award: 2026
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2026-86300
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 06 Nov 2026 09:25
• Last Modified: 06 Nov 2026 09:27
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.86300
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/86300