Edmund Burke (1728-1797)

Born in Dublin, the son of an Irish Protestant lawyer, Burke was educated at Trinity College,
Dublin. He then moved to London, where he made a name for himself both as a lawyer and a
frequenter of coffee-houses and writers. Burke’s versatility was famous in his day: by the early
1760s he had already published his Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the
Sublime and Beautiful (1757), had been one of the founding members of Dr Johnson’s famous
Literary Club in 1764, and above all had begun to devote himself to politics.

The philosophical nature of Burke’s Enquiry clearly emerges from its clear-cut paragraphs
carefully reasoned, written in a language that is more typical of philosophical or scientific
research than of fiction. Burke tries to demonstrate that no emotion is stronger than fear, not
even pleasure, and that fear is the true source of the sublime. It follows that if fear is stronger
than pleasure, then the sublime is stronger than the beautiful. This does not mean it is
necessarily better: Burke is simply saying that the sublime has a stronger hold on man’s
imagination. In Part III of Burke’s Enquiry the beautiful and the sublime are compared. The
beautiful is usually expressed by slightly curved lines and harmonic proportions (as in classical
or baroque art); the sublime by straight or irregular lines, and by exaggerated proportions (as
in Gothic buildings and medieval castles).

In 1766 Burke was elected to Parliament where he served for nearly thirty years. Burke was
part of a liberal faction of the Whig party. Burke’s knowledge of politics was extensive and
varied being founded on his personal experience, restless travelling and wide reading of both
ancient and modern history and philosophy. He took an active interest in contemporary events
(the American and French Revolutions in particular) and in some crucial political and
economical issues that are still relevant today: the Irish question and colonial policy.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), Thoughts on French Affairs (1791), and
American Taxation (1774) are only some of his major political works.

Burke’s Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies was delivered to Parliament on 22 March
1775. By that time the American question was already threatening to break out into war.
Burke spoke out against war with all the eloquence he possessed. He showed first-hand
knowledge of the American situation (he was in personal contact with Benjamin Franklin) and
good sense. His speech immediately became famous and two months later it was in print. In
Parliament, however, it did not meet with success being defeated by a vote of 270 to 78. Only
a month later hostilities began at Concord and Lexington: the American War of Independence
had begun.