In the multimodal text AOT

In the multimodal text AOT, de Botton illustrates the cathartic experience to landscapes that affects individuals and society. His reassuring tone throughout his essayistic chapter On the Sublime expounds the experience of majestic nature to stimulate human inadequacies, though due to the humbling nature of the sublime, comfort is found. The obvious religious connotations behind the biblical reference of Job and God’s rhetorical questions mirror de Botton himself asking the reader to reflect upon their own “feeling of smallness” to draw a stronger link between the sublime and religion. The ruminations of connecting to the physical landscape of Sinai Desert without the influence of others reasserts the overwhelming “feelings of power, significance … and even moral goodness”. This cumulative listing cleverly highlights pantheistic ideals with nature, contributing that ” landscapes offered them an emotional connection to a greater power”. The Romantic poet Thomas Gray, interlaces his alliteration with religious reference “not a precipice … but is pregnant with religion and poetry” to illuminate the influences that physical landscapes can have on an individual, radically altering their outlook on life, hence impacting society and individuals.