Journal:Create a very short

story (5 – 7 sentences) that explains the

character depicted. Think: Why is she

sitting like this? What is the tone of the

picture? Make sure you use the same tone

in your short story!

DARK ROMANTICISM

This is where it gets

weird…

As the second piece to the Romantic literary movement,

Dark Romanticism explores the

potential evil in the individual.

Characters are fueled by anxiety and guilt.

Characters are in psychological or physical torment.

CHARACTERS

SETTINGSBleak or remote placesOminous (something bad is coming…)Large, drafty old houses that have "been in the family for years." 

Morbid or violent incidents

A supernatural or otherworldly element is often present. (Think: ghosts, doors that open themselves, unexplained sounds, etc.)

PLOT

GOTHIC ELEMENTSGrotesque, mysterious, desolateAtmosphere of mystery and suspense Omens, foreshadowing, and dreams 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.

Words designed to evoke images of gloom and doom: dark, foreboding, forbidding, ghostly, etc.

MAIN IDEASTriumph of evil over good

Inevitability of sin and guilt in humanity

Perverse and self-destructive nature of mankind

Extremes of individualism

What about this image makes it Dark Romantic?

What about this image makes it Dark Romantic?

What about this image makes it Dark Romantic?

Henry Fuseli,The Nightmare

One of the first painters to show the

darkness within the

human subconsciou

s.

EDGAR ALLAN POE(1809 – 1849)

“A BIBLE OF FEAR”Born in Boston, MassachusettsMother dies, father leavesLives with Allan family, but never adoptedMarries Virginia, his 13 year-old cousin (not as weird as it is today).Travel, job instability, alcoholismVirginia dies at 25…Poe goes downhillDies at age 40 in Baltimore (The cause of his death is unknown and has been attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents.)

CAREERSJoined the U.S. military; eventually, attended West Point for a short time until he found a way to be dismissed.He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

POE’S WRITINGA truthful, often vicious, editorWorked hard at horror elements to affect readerCreated detective story at age 32 (“Murders in the Rue Morgue”)Very influential (worldwide) and very debatedWrote about extreme situations & settings to expose true human nature

POE’S WORKS“The Raven”“Annabel Lee”“The Black Cat”“The Cask of Amontillado”“The Tell-Tale Heart”“The Fall of the House of Usher”

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (1804 – 1864)

A BIOGRAPHYBorn in Salem, Massachusetts (related to Judge Hathorne)Father dies early, mother becomes recluse12 years of intense reading & writing Added a “w” to his last nameMarried in his 30sScarlet Letter cements his popularityFriend to Franklin Pierce, Herman Melville, Emerson, Longfellow

HAWTHORNE’S WRITINGCautionary talesSuggest that sin, guilt, and evil are the most natural human qualitiesInspired by Puritans

HAWTHORNE’S WORKS

“Young Goodman Brown”“Dr. Heidigger’s Experiment”“The Minister’s Black Veil”“The Birth-mark”The Scarlet LetterThe House of the Seven Gables

VIEW…View “The Life of Vincent Malloy” by Tim Burton

Reflection: How is “Vincent” an example of Dark Romanticism?

“Vincent Malloy”

At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use in itself, but formed merely the interval between two of the colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite.

--Edgar Allan Poe“The Cask of Amontillado”