John Muir and the Sublime:

John Muir and the Sublime: Envisioning the Conservation of the Modern Nation

The sublime, "it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling" (Burke, 1757, p 32). If one has ever seen the Yosemite Valley in person, it is no mystery as to how John Muir believed that it held the greatest level of sublimity any area of the United States could wield. The cascading waterfalls, sheer rock cliffs, and beautiful rolling valleys are astonishingly beautiful, yet incredibly wild and rugged. However, the modern eye may not have had the opportunity to witness such majestic beauty if it were not for the work of one man -- John Muir. He was the true father of conservation, and spent his time thoroughly documenting and writing about the Sierra Nevada Mountains in order to help try and raise an effort to conserve one of America's most surreal wildernesses. In his articles, Muir paints a very vivid picture in order to show the sublime nature of the wilderness he loved; in his rhetoric, he truly touches on the amazement he felt from such a beautiful, yet wild place. He held a great respect for the amazing, yet dangerous, wilderness, which he often described with religious undertones to truly capture the awe and respect for some of God's greatest handiwork.

John Muir was crucial in the development of the modern sense of national conservancy for our greatest environmental treasures here in the United States. Before his work, the United States had an underlying consciousness that believed everything was for the taking. All the natural resources of its newly acquired lands were not to be preserved, but used to help the growing nation further its massive industrial dreams and aspirations. John Muir began visiting some of the United States most reassured natural environments and spreading the word about how these beautiful places needed to be preserved so that future generations could be able to see and relish their beauty. Together with the Sierra Club that he established, Muir fought long and hard to generate a greater consciousness for conservation. His most favorite places were located in the vast and wild wilderness of the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges in California. Muir's great passion for the mountain ranges of Eastern and Northern California helped set up national parks to preserve areas like the Yosemite Valley and the Sequoias. Both were established with the 1890 passing of the National Park Bill, a monumental piece of legislation that changed the nature in conservancy here in the United States. This was one of the first pieces of legislation that began to show concern for the preservation of America's wilderness, and not the need to use up the abundance of natural resources these wildernesses contain for further pushes towards a greater industrial era. Muir was fundamental in the beginning of a change of consciousness towards greater respect and admiration for the natural wonders of this country.

Without his persuasive and vivid writing style, places like Yosemite Valley might very well have been diminished and turned into industrial lumber mills or modern development sites. John Muir had a passion and flare for writing, which he then used to generate numerous articles and books about the wonderful nature of the American wilderness. Muir wrote articles to interest people about conservation. He wrote to an eastern audience, those who had normally never set foot in the western wilderness, and who had definitely never seen the beautiful landscape of the Yosemite Valley and surrounding Sierra Nevada mountain range. As such, this molded his unique writing style. He wrote in very vivid language to help paint a very clear image in the minds of those he was trying to convince to help his effort in increasing the United State's promise of conservation. In his articles, Muir provided incredibly detailed descriptions are combined with vivid imagery in order to paint a clear and undeniable image of the pristine and sublime wilderness Muir was so taken aback by. He combines literal information about the landscape, such as height above sea level and width, with powerful language in order to provoke lucid images of Yosemite and the Sierras to those individuals who had never had the opportunity to set eyes on such a majestic place.

"with rough passages here and there they are flowery pathways conducting to the snowy, icy fountains; mountains streets full of life and light, graded and sculptured by the ancient glaciers, and presenting throughout all their course a rich variety of novel and attractive scenery -- the most attractive that has yet been discovered in the mountain ranges of the world" (Muir, 1912, p 2). By reading his works, individuals who had never set eyes on the Sierras felt an emotional and personal connection to them.

Muir was also careful to address the sublime nature of these mountains. According to Edward Burke in his classic writings about the nature of the sublime, "when danger or pain press too nearly, they are incapable of giving any delight, and are simply terrible; but at certain distances, and with certain modifications, they may be, and are, delightful as we every day experience" (Burke, 1757, p 32). As such, the concept of sublime entails not only amazement, but also a strange concept of respect for the danger it holds within. These mountains were definitely beautiful, but Muir also respected their danger. The wilderness is not a forgiving place. Thus, Muir uses the wild nature of the wilderness to further his amazement. Again, Burke writes in his classic text, "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 of its motions are suspended, with some degree of horror" (Burke, 1757, p 45). Burke's concept of the sublime can be seen in Muir's sheer amazement of the beauty and danger found within the western American wilderness. He clearly expressed his astonishment throughout his writings, which coincide with Burke's descriptions of how sublimity in nature is an astonishing sight that can freeze the rational mind in a state of amazement and wonder. The sublime is not something to be just wondered at, but also to be respected. By connecting the concept of the sublime to his description of the Sierras, Muir is asking not only for his readers to be amazed with the wild place, but also to respect it. This respect is essential in conversation efforts, and as such was a powerful rhetorical tool used in his writings.