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The Dark Romantics a.k.a. the Anti-Transcendentalists. Light Romanticism. Dark Romanticism. Transcendentalism. “Those who dream by day are aware of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” Edgar Allan Poe. The Dark Romantics.
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The Dark Romanticsa.k.a. the Anti-Transcendentalists Light Romanticism Dark Romanticism Transcendentalism “Those who dream by day are aware of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”Edgar Allan Poe
The Dark Romantics “Transcendentalism is often composed of nothing more substantial than smoke, moonshine, and raw potatoes.”Nathaniel Hawthorne • Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville • Edgar Allan Poe fits into this category, but is considered more of a Gothic writer. • These authors dealt with the darker side of human nature, specifically with sin and the ways in which humans deal with temptation, guilt, and revenge.
The Dark Romantics Nathanial Hawthorne Herman Melville Edgar Allan Poe
Similarities to Transcendentalism: • valued intuition over reason • saw signs and symbols in events • spiritual facts lie behind physical appearances
Differences: • spiritual facts are not necessarily good or harmless • View developed from the mystical and melancholy aspects of Puritan thought • Works explored the conflict between good and evil, psychological effects of guilt and sin, and madness and derangement in human psyche • Saw the blankness and the horror of evil within humanity
Dark Romantic Literature (Anti-Transcendentalism): • Pessimistic / Revealed man’s dark side (used dread, terror, suspense to hold attention) • Psychological / Introspective • Heavily symbolic • Believed sin, pain, evil existed(tales of shame, obsession, revenge, madness) • Nature cruel & unexplainable(ruins, overgrowth, dark forests, wind-swept plains) • Depressed, insane characters (man is foolish and self-destructive) • DR Heroes – lofty, haunted, alienated
“…evil is a consequence of good, in fact, out of joy is sorrow born.” Edgar Allen Poe • United States lack of tradition = Fear(history of strife / vast wilderness / classless society) • Modern Impact? • 1. Alluring antagonists 2. Persecuted young women 3. Fascination with criminal process
“Where does the violet tint end and the orange tint begin? Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the one first blending enter into the other. So with sanity and insanity.” Herman Melville