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2003, Matthew Hagaman

Comparing the Literature of Romantics, Transcendentalists, and Dark Romantics

The of was a movement that focused on intuition and imagination rather than the earlier themes of and divinity. The time before and during the

American was a period in which three new literary groups arose: Romantics,

Transcendentalists, and Dark Romantics. Together they formed a known as

Romanticism.

Romantics write in a distinct style that include escapes (especially into ), new themes (including the ), and original characters. The style supports feeling over reason, places faith in experience and imagination, reviews at the past to discover the truth of the present, and moves the focus of the plot away from God. For instance, Rip Van Winkle by

Washington Irving follows an old man who sleeps for twenty years deep in the forest and wakes up to find his home town very different than when he began to slumber. The story displays aspects of an escape into both nature and the future. The story also exhibits an element of the supernatural in the new people and places Winkle experiences in his .

For example, Winkle met “a company of odd-looking personages playing at ninepins.” This unusual scene demonstrates the imagination of Romantic writers. Irving, unlike the Puritans who preceded him, does not reference God in his works.

Transcendentalists write very spiritually, value and self-reliance, and believe that spontaneous feelings and intuitions are superior to rationality. Transcendentalists tend to write in the form of an essay or a personal experience, rather than or fiction.

An example of a Transcendentalist is . In Thoreau’s , he reflects on the portion of his life that he spent on . It was written in the first person, a format very rarely used at the time. In Walden, he retreats to his own self-built cabin deep in 2003, Matthew Hagaman the woods and reflects, “There is some of the same fitness in a man’s building his own house that there is in a bird’s building its own nest.” He connects himself to nature and detaches from society to live the self-reliant lifestyle of the Transcendentalists. Thoreau thought that by returning to nature, he would he would better understand the essential fact of life.

Dark Romantics also value intuition over logic and explore the conflict between good and evil. Three authors from this group are , , and

Edger Allan Poe. In , Hawthorne greatly focused on sin, pain, and the evil of human life. The story tells of two adulterers who try to hide their sin and attempt to stop a devil-like man from shaming them. In Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, he introduces the foundation of two new , and Horror. Poe uses dark and melancholy tones in his writing to thoroughly describe the scene. For example, “I looked upon the scene before me-upon the mere house, and the simple features of the domain-upon the bleak walls-upon the vacant eye-like windows-upon a few rank sedges-and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees-with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the afterdream of a reveler upon opium-the bitter lapse into everyday life-the hideous dropping off of the veil.” This passage shows the gloomy tone of

Transcendentalist works.

These three groups can be deemed similar, and are therefore categorized under the

Romantic genre. In all three groups, the literature often deals with escapes, especially into nature and the unknown. All groups value intuition and imagination over logic and rationalism. They also share the common style of using new ideas, themes, and characters.

In addition, none of the groups reference God. Lastly, most Romantic authors wrote about or referenced the past in their works.

In addition to the similarities between each of the Romantic literatures, there are also 2003, Matthew Hagaman many differences. Each group has their own style of writing; Romantics prefer poetry,

Transcendentalists draft , and Dark Romantics create stories. Romantics and

Transcendentalists believed in optimism, while Dark Romantics tended to write in pessimistic and dark tones.

Reading selections from Rip Van Winkle, Walden, and The Fall of the House of Usher can give one the feelings of the Romantic attitude. Each exhibits the appropriate style.