# poetry abstracts for review **Keywords:** Kantian sublime, poetic representation, imagination **Abstract:** The paper “The Poetic and Architectural Sublime(s)” explores Immanuel Kant’s concept of the sublime, particularly his assertion that the sublime can only be experienced through encounters with nature, not art. According to Kant, the sublime is a response elicited by phenomena perceived as too vast or powerful for our faculties of reason to comprehend. This feeling makes us aware of our strengths and limitations, compared to the might of nature and our unique reasoning abilities. In contrast, Kant claims art cannot inspire sublime feelings. He argues that since art is a product of human rationality and intention, it cannot overwhelm us in the way nature can. Art can inspire peaceful contemplation (a reaction to beauty), but not the overwhelming awe of the sublime. Kant suggests that art’s beauty imitates natural beauty and that natural aesthetics are superior. What might be sublime in nature would be merely fearsome or disgusting in art. Despite Kant’s rigid distinction, this paper investigates whether the manmade sublime is truly a lost cause. Kant himself provides examples of manmade objects when explaining the sublime. Since the sublime is an attribute of our perception, anything that triggers the requisite emotional response is a candidate for inclusion as sublime. Kant’s contemporaries, namely Burke and Baumgarten, supported the artistic sublime. Kant acknowledges this view, but ultimately rejects it, though his rejection deserves further scrutiny. In “The Poetic Possibil