Dark+Romantics

Illustration of //The Raven

John Young//

[|Wikipedia Entry]

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The term //dark romanticism// comes from both the pessimistic nature of the subgenre's literature and the influence it derives from the earlier [|Romantic] literary movement. Dark Romanticism's birth, however, was a mid-nineteenth-century reaction to the American Transcendental movement.[|[2]] Transcendentalism originated in [|New England] among intellectuals like [|Ralph Waldo Emerson], [|Henry David Thoreau], and [|Margaret Fuller] and found wide popularity from [|1836] through the late [|1840s].[|[3]] The movement came to have influence in a number of areas of American expression, including its literature, as writers growing up in the Transcendental atmosphere of the time were affected.[|[4]] Some, including Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville, found Transcendental beliefs far too optimistic and egotistical and reacted by modifying them in their [|prose] and [|poetry]—works that now comprise the subgenre that was Dark Romanticism.[|[5]] Dark Romantics======

While Transcendentalism influenced individual Dark Romantic authors differently, literary critics observe works of the subgenre to break from Transcendentalism’s tenets in a few key ways. Firstly, Dark Romantics are much less confident about the notion that perfection is an innate quality of mankind, as believed by Transcendentalists. Subsequently, Dark Romantics present individuals as prone to sin and self-destruction, not as inherently possessing divinity and wisdom. G.R. Thompson describes this disagreement, stating that while Transcendental thought conceived of a world in which divinity was immanent, "the Dark Romantics adapted images of anthropomorphized evil in the form of Satan, devils, ghosts . . . vampires, and ghouls."[|[6]] Secondly, while both groups believe that nature is a deeply spiritual force, Dark Romanticism views it in a much more sinister light than does Transcendentalism, which sees nature as a divine and universal organic mediator. For these Dark Romantics, the natural world is dark, decaying, and mysterious; when it does reveal truth to man, its revelations are evil and hellish. Finally, whereas Transcendentalists advocate social reform when appropriate, works of Dark Romanticism frequently show individuals failing in their attempts to make changes for the better. Thompson sums up the characteristics of the subgenre, writing that:

__A model of the world__ "Dark romanticism is a literary subgenre that emerged from the Transcendental philosophical movement popular in nineteenth-century America. Works of literature were influenced by Transcendental thought, but it didn't completely embrace the movement comprise." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_romanticism

__Explanation__ "Why is the world the way it is? Where does it all come from? Where do we come from?" The term //dark romanticism// comes from both the pessimistic nature of the subgenre's literature and the influence it derives from the earlier Romantic literary movement. Dark Romanticism's birth, however, was a mid-nineteenth-century reaction to the American Transcendental movement. The movement came to have an influence in a number of areas of American expression, including its literature, as writers growing up in the Transcendental atmosphere of the time were affected. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_romanticism

Futurology Man is damned. Writers of dark romantics look at man as sinful beings ready to do wrong. Dark romantics often write of man failing in attempts to better themselves. Since man can do no right, hell is the only place fit for him.

Values In the view of dark romantics the world is evil, dark, and without hope. When speaking of man, dark romantics use thoughts that are corrupt, evil, and hellish. "the Dark Romantics adapted images of anthropomorphizing evil in the form of Satan, devils, ghosts . . . vampires, and ghouls." - G.R. Thompson

Action "How should we act?" - Morality, application of values. "Dark Romantics present individuals as prone to sin and self-destruction, not as inherently possessing divinity and wisdom." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_romanticism

Knowledge "What is true and what is false?" - how do we know? When the natural world reveals truth to man, its revelations are evil and hellish.

-Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. -Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, that a vast, perhaps the larger portion of the truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant. -I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. -In one case out of a hundred a point is excessively discussed because it is obscure; in the ninety-nine remaining it is obscure because it is excessively discussed. - Of puns it has been said that those who most dislike them are those who are least able to utter them. [|Edgar Allen Poe]
 * __Edgar Allen Poe Quotes:__**