The Dark Romantics:
Anti-Transcendentalists
Mrs. Small and Mr. O’Donnell
College Prep
Name: ______
Period:______
Key Traits of Anti-Transcendentalism
DIRECTIONS: Consider the main traits of Transcendentalism. Use them to make predictions about what MAY be key traits of Anti-Transcendentalism, a reactionary movement.
Transcendental Trait / Anti-Transcendental Prediction / Actual TraitReverence for Nature
Human potential (Optimism/Idealist)
Eternal One
Non-conformity
Truth through observation/exploration
The Dark Romantics (Anti-Transcendentalists) in American Lit
Heather Carroll
Education Portal
American Renaissance
The American Renaissance in literature is actually a very specific part of the larger literary period, the American Romantic period. The Romantic period, which lasted roughly from 1800-1860, experienced an explosion of uniquely American literature near the end of the time period. This surge of American literary masterpieces from 1840-1860 is known as the American Renaissance.
During the American Renaissance, writers could generally be placed into one of two subgenres, or categories: the Dark Romantics and the Transcendentalists. In this video, we're going to look at the Dark Romantics.
Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville were key Dark Romantic writersTo begin, it's best to explain that Dark Romantic doesn't mean darkly romantic, so we're NOT thinking of a 50 Shades of Grey type-thing (I'm sorry to disappoint you) - though both are exploring the inner workings of the mind. Instead, we are talking about a subgenre of writing that took a shadowy approach to the fantastical.
The Romantic writers took an optimistic approach to the mystical aspects of the universe where sins are properly punished and those who are truly good are rewarded. For example, in Washington Irving's 'The Devil and Tom Walker,' Tom Walker is punished for his greed. It's a moral tale to warn against hypocrisy and evil. On the other hand, the Dark Romantics, like Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville, sometimes called Gothic, were more serious and found the darkness and evil in those same aspects, with evil taking over the good. As a result, their writing typically has the following characteristics:
1. Lots of creepy symbols
2. Horrific themes
3. Psychological effects of guilt and sin
Symbols
A symbol is something that represents something else. A red rose, for example, is a common symbol for love, romance, passion, and vitality. But if we change the color of the rose to black, it becomes a symbol of something more sinister - death, loss, and possibly evil. Authors use symbols to help readers make connections beyond the story itself. Sometimes objects in a story are symbols. Sometimes characters are symbols.
Most people are familiar with Edgar Allan Poe's poem 'The Raven,' which is a Dark Romantic piece of writing that is still popular today (even the The Simpsons have their own version). In that poem, the raven is a symbol for death and hopelessness as it sits and watches the narrator, who is slowly going mad. Poe could have chosen any bird, but he chose a bird who is known for hanging out at battlefields and picking away at the dead. These connections through the use of symbols are intentionally made by the author and reinforce the overall meaning of the story. For the Dark Romantics, sin and evil were everywhere, so their symbols often represent evil entities, like devils or spirits. These symbols often reinforce one of many horrific themes found in the story.
The Dark Romantics used evil beings as symbols for sinHorrific Themes
A story's theme is a statement that the text seems to making about the subject and for the Dark Romantics, this statement was drenched in terrifying ideas. In some cases, they studied the struggles of human nature. More specifically, they believed that human nature was less than good, so evil was able to take hold of a person. Like the Puritans before them, they believed evil and sin were everywhere, but it was not as easy to identify, so it could easily lead to self-destruction.
It was not just human nature that harbored evil, though; the Dark Romantics also saw darkness in the external world. The idea that our surroundings could be filled with evil fueled much of their writing, encouraging readers to question everything around them. Edgar Allan Poe, a famous Dark Romantic writer, encompasses this theme in his short story 'The Fall of the House of Usher.' As despair takes over the home, it deteriorates and finally collapses.
Of course, like many stories, the Dark Romantics knew that good was always battling evil, but unlike your typical super-hero movie, evil usually won out. But it wasn't simply the presence of evil that fueled the Dark Romantics' writing. They wanted to explore the horrors of evil that were lurking in everyone. This meant that they spent a good deal of time looking at the character's thought processes. It's not enough to see the character's actions; we need to see his or her reasons for committing those actions in the first place. Poe wrote another story called 'The Tell-Tale Heart' that follows a murderer's increased paranoia after hiding a dismembered body under the floorboards.
If you put all of these components together, you end up with more than your run-of-the-mill horror story. These stories are more like the movies Black Swan and American Psycho that follow the stream of consciousness deterioration of the mind than say, Scream and Saw which focus on actions. These writers want to know 'why' rather than 'how', so they focus on the psychological, or how the mind works.
The Scarlet Letter focuses on the psychological repercussions of sin and guiltPsychological Effects of Guilt And Sin
With all these horrific undertones and creepy symbols, it shouldn't be a surprise then that the characters in these stories are not your average storybook heroes. Mostly, though not always, Dark Romantic writers want to explore the psychological effects of guilt and sin, so we see characters who are harboring guilt for their sins, and that guilt leads to the grotesque, the fantastic, or the morbid. In other words, these characters are often deranged or go mad. It also means that the reader is often stuck in the character's mind, watching as it slowly deteriorates into that madness. Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates this concept in his novel The Scarlet Letter. He tells the story of a minister whose affair with a married woman sends him into a guilt-ridden self-punishment, and ultimately death.
Lesson Summary
So, to sum up, the American Romantic period had an explosion of uniquely American literature at the end of the era, from about 1840-1860. During this time, the subgenre of Dark Romantic writers, including Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, used creepy symbols and horrific themes to look at the inner-workings of the mind and to explore the psychological effects of guilt and sin. The result is a collection of short stories, poems, and novels that forced Americans to see that evil was lurking in us all.
Take notes on the following topics while watching the brief video.
American Renaissance
Symbols
Horrific Themes
Psychological Effects of Guilt And Sin
Complete the following outline during class discussion.
Anti – transcendentalism
· Definition:
· When:
Reasons / Causes
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Literary works
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Key Ideas / Philosophies
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View of nature
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Writing style
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PRE – READING FOR: THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER – by Washington Irving
YES NO STATEMENT
1. There is a devil who tries to trick people.
2. Money is the #1 goal for most people today.
3. Integrity is more important than money.
4. When you marry, what is yours should become your spouse’s and vice versa.
5. It is okay to lie to your spouse if the lie will not hurt them.
The Devil and Tom Walker Name: ______
Washington Irving Pd: ______
Folk Tale
· Characters typify (exaggerate) certain human motivation / behavior
· Events are based on legend or hearsay (as opposed to history)
· Humorous tone, yet serious message(s) about human values is conveyed
· Mixture of realistic detail and elements of the supernatural
Satire: A type of writing that ridicules various people, institutions, groups or humanity in order to set a moral standard for society
Stock characters: Fictional characters that are based on common literary or social stereotypes. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manners or speech. They are often used in satire and parody.
Read “The Devil and Tom Walker” (202-213) and answer the questions that follow.
1. What is the setting of the story?
2. What kind of people are the Walkers?
3. Describe the appearance of the Devil using textual evidence.
4. The Devil goes by a few different names. List them:
5. What is carved on many of the trees in the forest?
6. What happens to these trees and what do they symbolize?
7. Describe the deal that the Devil wants Tom to make with him.
8. When Tom tells his wife about #7, what does she do and why?
9. Mrs. Walker disappears. What has happened to her? Use textual evidence to prove your answer.
10. What deal do the Devil and Tom Walker finally make?
11. What kind of life does Tom lead after making this deal?
12. How is Tom still a miser even after this deal?
13. Why does Tom decide to become a churchgoer later in his life?
14. What statement does Tom make that “curses” him?
15. What do people say happened to Tom Walker?
16. What happened to all of Tom’s money and possessions?
17. What is the theme of the short story?
18. Irving uses symbols throughout his story. What do the following characters represent? Why do you think the author chose them as symbols?
a. The Devil –
b. Tom and his wife –
c. Tom towards the end -
d. The swamp –
e. The Indian fort –
f. The Bible –
19. What are the Anti-Transcendentalist traits of this story? List at least 3
The Minister’s Black Veil (pages 266-275 in textbook)
By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Background:
Seventeenth-century Puritan New England, the setting of “The Minister’s Black Veil,” was steeped as much in superstition as religion – as you may remember from reading “The Crucible” earlier this year. To review, Puritans believed God was all-powerful and all-knowing. Their Theocratic society – a combination of laws based on The Bible and English law – perpetuated the idea that people were sinful by nature and deserved eternal punishment, but God “elected” some to be saved. In order to do this, Puritans tried to lead moral lives as a sign of being saved. Of course, this required people to keep a constant watch over themselves and others in order to fight the “natural tendency” to sin.
Literary Terms:
1. Parable – The subtitle of “The Minister’s Black Veil” is “A Parable.” A parable is a story that illustrates a moral lesson. In this way, parables resemble fables. Fables, however, usually have animal characters, whereas parables have human characters. Many famous parables appear in the Bible. The parable of the prodigal son, for example, teaches that one who turns away from evil should be forgiven. Hawthorne included the subtitle “A Parable” to alert his readers that he intended “The Minister’s Black Veil” to convey a moral lesson.
2. Symbolism: Define the following term and as you read, record what the black veil symbolizes.
Vocabulary: Define the following terms before you read.
Perturbation
Venerable
Iniquity
Sagacious
Irreproachable
Zealous
Torpor
1. Describe Mr. Hooper, the minister, by using details from page 266.
2. Why does the veil that he is wearing scare the churchgoers?
3. What is Mr. Hooper’s sermon about on this day?
4. Connect his sermon to the black veil.
5. Describe Elizabeth, Mr. Hooper’s plighted wife (fiancé).
6. What reasons does Mr. Hooper give (to Elizabeth) for not removing the veil?
7. What is Elizabeth’s reaction to #6?
8. Why do you think Mr. Hooper refuses to remove the veil over the course of his life?
9. What does his refusal to remove the veil say about his character?
10. The veil affects Mr. Hooper’s relationships with others. Explain how the behavior of everyone in town changes.
11. What does Mr. Hooper say on his deathbed about veils?
12. What do Father Hooper's final words disclose about his possible reasoning for wearing the veil?
13. Why do you think Hawthorne chose not to explain why Mr. Hooper wears the veil? How does this secret contribute to the story?
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14. Finally, what message or moral lesson is Hawthorne sending in this parable? Cite a specific example from the story to support your position.
Message / Moral Lesson:
Textual Evidence:
Explanation:
15. How is this story Anti-Transcendental?
“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
1. How does the setting add to the meaning of the story: sunset and night, dreary road, gloomy trees, etc? How does this imagery create the mood? How does this mood help us predict the nature of Young Goodman Brown’s journey?
2. Why do you think Faith wore pink ribbons? What is the connotation of this color? (Use a dictionary if needed).
3. Discuss the significance of the second traveler: “. . . [A man appeared] bearing a considerable resemblance to him, though perhaps more in expression than features. Still they might have been taken for father and son.” Is he Brown’s alter ego? (You may need to define this term first).
4. Interpret the description of the staff: “which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle like a living serpent. This, of course, must have been an ocular deception, assisted by the uncertain light.” What allusion is perhaps made here?
5. The fellow traveler states his knowledge of many members of Brown’s family as well as many important people from the town. What statement then is Hawthorne making about evil?
6. Discuss the meaning of the encounter with Goody Cloyse. “ . . . and in the very image of my old gossip, Goodman Brown, the grandfather of the silly fellow that now is.”