Longinus also foreshadows the development of the sublime in England in his attention to the rhetorical effect of natural forces: "Nature impels us to admire not a small river that ministers to our necessities but the Nile, the Ister, and the Rhine."
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![sublime genre sublime genre](https://media.s-bol.com/mLZOApL9knR/801x1200.jpg)
Longinus believes that power is the essence of the sublime style, as it literally moves or transports its hearers, and he offers among many examples a rare reference to the Hebrew scriptures, Genesis 1:3, "And God said, Let there be light and there was light." This is an example of the absolute power in which word and effect are one. Always a contested term, the idea of the sublime is essential to an understanding of Gothic poetics and, especially, the attempt to defend or justify the literature of terror. The definition of this key term has evolved from the early days of Longinus through to various 18th and 19th century formulations.