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Transcendentalism,

Anti-Transcendentalism

(The Dark Romantics),

and American Gothic

By meditation, by communing with nature, through work and art, one may TRANSCEND, or go beyond, his senses and attain an understanding of beauty and goodness and truth.

Most well-known Transcendentalist

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

-New England experiencing a period/movement of

self-improvement

-Goals of this movement: training teachers,

establishing museums, and instituting social

reforms.

-Emerson provided a series of lectures on self-

improvement. Emerson's utopian group became

known as "The Transcendental Club."

Sidekick (2nd most famous)

  • most famous work: WALDEN
  • details Thoreaus' experiences over the course of two years in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor, Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts.
  • hoped to isolate himself from society to gain a more objective understanding of it.
  • simple living and self-sufficiency were Thoreau's other goals, inspired by the transcendentalist philosophy.

Anti-Transcendentalists

aka

The Dark Romantics

Characteristics

  • like Transcendentalists, valued intuition over reason, saw signs and symbols in events, believed spiritual facts transcend physical appearances
  • unlike Transcendentalism, their view of the world LACKED OPTIMISM
  • saw a DARK SIDE to human existence and recorded this aspect of human nature in their works
  • works explored conflict between GOOD AND EVIL, psychological effects of GUILT AND SIN, and MADNESS and DERANGEMENT in the human psyche
  • They truly saw the BLACKNESS and the HORROR of evil within humanity. (back to Puritans, anyone?)

and then ... there's Poe

Gothic Literature

  • Settings include large, drafty old houses that have "been in the family for years." 
  • Atmosphere is one of mystery and suspense.
  • Contains a ghostly legend, an unexplainable occurrence, or a story about a horrible death or murder.
  • Omens, foreshadowing, and dreams usually play a large role in the mysterious air that is created within the story.
  • Include highly charged emotional states like:  terror, a feeling that one is on the brink of insanity, anger, agitation, an exaggerated feeling of some impending doom, and obsessive love.
  • Supernatural events:  ghosts, doors that open themselves, unexplained sounds, etc.
  • Damsels in distress are frequent.  Women who are frightened and confused, wandering around lost, or dying due to a slow and unexplainable ailment.
  • Words designed to evoke images of gloom and doom: dark, foreboding, forbidding, ghostly, etc.
  • Romantic themes often involve the death of a man or woman in the throes of some great passion, the obsessive nature of a man or woman in love, or excessive grief one feels upon the loss of a loved one.

What does Transcendentalism

mean?

1803-1882

Characteristics of Transcendentalism

Henry David Thoreau

  • Everything in the world, including human beings, is a reflection of the Divine Soul.
  • The physical facts of the natural world are a doorway to the spiritual or ideal world which hold important truths.
  • The spark of divinity lies within man.
  • People can use their intuition to behold God's spirit revealed in nature or their own souls.
  • Spontaneous feelings and intuition are superior to deliberate intellectualism and rationality.

Thoreau's cabin

Walden Pond at sunset

1817-1862

1804-1864

1819-1891

1809-1849

Although often considered a Dark Romantic, Poe can be viewed more as a Gothic writer.

Poe’s works strongly represent Gothic elements more so than valuing

intuition over reason or examining the natural world for God and spiritual truths.

The Masque of

the Red Death

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