Unit VI: The Dark Romantics/Gothics
Nathanial Hawthorne
Edgar Allen Poe
Bellwork
 List 5 things you know about Edgar Allen Poe
 List 5 things you think we may come across in “dark
romanticism/gothic writing”
Video Clips and Links
 Edgar Allen Poe Bio (26)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEUD45_RtNg
 http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/classconn/lessonplans.as
p
Dark Romanticism
 Dark romanticism is a term with various meanings, but one of the most
popular ones is a literary genre that has a darkly emotional aspect,
similar to what has been called the “transcendentalist” literary
movement.
 Other definitions relate to other arts, like music, visual arts, and
performance arts.
 It can also be a general ethos related to a person’s individual style and
outlook on life.
 In all of these, the idea of “darkness,” itself, related to cynicism,
pessimism, or obsession with Gothic nature, is juxtaposed with the idea
of romanticism, which implies not only amorous passion, but nearly
any deeply emotional aspiration.
The Genre
As a literary genre, dark romanticism tends to be engaged with the
idea of darkness in the human soul, the concept of original sin, or a
certain dark outlook on society in general.
In traditional American studies, writers like Nathaniel Hawthorne
and Emily Dickinson represent this genre. Others might describe
Edgar Allen Poe and other writers of that time as being part of it as
well.
The Ideas
 In terms of a general cultural phenomenon, this term is often
associated with what people call “goth” in many Englishspeaking societies.
 In general, this sort of genre combines traditional love
objects, like visual heart shapes, cute costumes, and cupids,
with distinct elements of the Gothic, such as the color black,
animal familiars like cats and bats, or other “dark” figures
common to Western symbolism, and may also include aspects
of the supernatural, such as vampires or witchcraft.
Gothic Poetry
 Gothic poetry can refer to works created in a number of different
styles, but typically involve relatively specific subject matter.
 The period in which such a piece was composed often has a
tremendous impact on the way in which it was written and what
aspects of the poem make it “Gothic” in nature.
 Classic works often relied on allusions to the medieval period of
Europe and often have emotional content that includes love and
the supernatural.
 Victorian Gothic poetry is, perhaps, the most well known and
includes work by poets such as Edgar Allen Poe, while more
modern works often take a somber and morbid tone
Noticing any similarities?
 Dark Romanticism—also known as Gothicism orAmerican Romanticism—is
defined as a literary subgenre that suggests people are prone to sin and
self-destruction.
 Various works of Dark Romanticists frequently show their characters
failing to ‘improve themselves’, and often become destroyed either by
the love they can never have due to not being able to change things for
the better, or love they cannot escape because it is unrequited.
 This sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
 All modern day supernatural and urban paranormal fantasies have some form
of dark romanticism in them.
 This trope usually falls along the lines of a human girl falling in love with a
paranormal creature—a vampire or werewolf, who usually is brooding and
full of angst, who mourns their existence but cannot change who or what
they are.
 The heroine is left to either accept this and suffer with them, or leave them
and suffer alone.
Our dark romantic authors
 One of the more important aspects of dark romanticism
comes from the psychological components of a broken heart,
or one that aches so much for someone they can’t have.
 Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe were
masters of this aspect of Dark Romanticism
Nathanial Hawthorne
 “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”
 Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts to a family with a long
New England history.
 The original name of the family was Hathorne, he added a 'w' to distinguish
himself from the history which included John Hathorne, a prominent judge
in the Salem witch trials of 1692-3.
 The Hathorne legacy was one of strict Puritanism which Hawthorne
grappled with in his stories and novels, The Scarlet Letter perhaps being
the most well-known.
 Hawthorne (and his wife Sophia) were reclusive and rather solitary.
 On occasion of his funeral Emerson wrote, "I thought there was a tragic
element in the event, that might be more fully rendered,—in the painful
solitude of the man, which, I suppose, could no longer be endured, & he
died of it."
The Scarlet Letter
 Hawthorne found a worn letter “A" in the attic of the old home
and with it came the inspiration to write his arguably most famous
novel, The Scarlet Letter.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uen92KjCSsg (SL Summary -
 The story of adulteress Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale was
self-described by Hawthorne as a “hell-fired story" and he writes
about reading it to Sophia that "It broke her heart and sent her to
bed with a grievous headache, which I look upon as a triumphant
success."
 The Scarlet Letter was one of the first mass-produced books in the
United States upon its release in 1850 and it gathered much praise
and criticism for the novels supposed morbidity.
 Sound like any movies you’ve seen??
Hawthorne "Dr. Heidegger's
Experiment"
“Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”
by: Nathanial Hawthorne
 Audio
 http://www.manythings.org/listen/heidegger/
 What clues do we find that the whole experiment is just a delusion
or type of magic trick?
 What does Dr. Heidegger’s rose symbolize?
 What is the Dr. H’s wisdom in not drinking the elixir?
 What themes do we see in this story?
Symbols and Meaning of the Text
 Though Dr. Heidegger's guests' appearances were (perhaps)





changed by the water, their characters were not.
Dr. Heidegger as well remains unchanged by the events.
He touches his beloved's rose when it returns to its withered state,
proclaiming to love it in its decrepit condition just as he had
admired its bloom.
The rose, a symbol of both his fiancee and her death, cannot bring
back Sylvia's life nor restore Dr. Heidegger's innocence.
The old man's sorrows cannot be erased by a magical elixir and
thus he refuses the charms of the water.
Just as his friends' true, flawed natures are exposed by his
"experiment", the Doctor's wisdom reveals itself.
Bellwork: After Dr. Heidegger
1.
What did Dr. Heidegger wish to find out from his
experiment?
2.
Give two adjectives that describe the following characters:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
3.
Widow Wycherly
Colonal Killigrew
Mr. Gascoigne
Mr. Medbourne
Dr. Heidegger
What are two symbols from Dr. H’s Experiment?
The Experimenter’s
Tombstone
 An epitaph is a sometimes humorous poem or saying that is on a tombstone.
 An example:
Here lies the body of Anna
Done to death by a banana
It wasn’t the fruit that laid her low
But the skin of the thing that made her go.
Epitaph 1
Epitaph 2
 Write TWO 4-6 line epitaphs on a ½ piece of computer paper for Dr. Heidegger
and one of his guests. Use evidence from the text to write your epitaph
 Example:
 Dr. Heidegger is smart but dead
 He didn’t let immortality go to his head
**Do not write on the back of your ½ sheet – we will do something with our next story on it…
Dark Romanticism and American
Gothic focused on:
 Focused on the evil capacity of mankind
 Probed the inner life of their characters, especially the grotesque
and mysterious (personalities, situations, etc…). Insanity is a
common element.
 Mystery
 Horror
 The Grotesque
 Violence
 The Supernatural
 Insanity
Important Literary Elements
 Satire – a type of writing that ridicules the shortcomings of




people or institutions in an attempt to bring about change
Irony – 3 Types…Recall from Crucible lesson
Imagery- the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete
sensation of a person, place, thing, or experience
Symbolism –movement in which writers rearranged the
world of appearances in order to reveal a more truthful
version of reality
Allegory - A device used to present an idea, principle, or
meaning
 Example: The grim reaper = death
Edgar Allen Poe
 “The Raven” , “Masque of the Red Death”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”,






“Annabel Lee”
His life was filled with personal tragedy and professional failure
Poe drank to escape this failure but had a low tolerance for alcohol
Numerous women whom he loved died, most from tuberculosis
His true love, his wife Virginia died from tuberculosis; Poe watched her
slowly die for five years
The death of a beautiful woman was a common topic of his works
because he had experienced such loss himself, including his stepmother,
his childhood love, and his wife
Tuberculosis (consumption) seemed to kill everyone Poe loved; “The
Masque of the Red Death” is often seen as Poe’s expression of this idea
Poe’s Stories
 Poe can be considered the father of the modern horror story,






influencing writers such as Stephen King and Anne Rice
Along with Nathaniel Hawthorne, perfected the modern short
story
Poe stressed a single dominant effect in his short stories
His stories often are filled with a sense of anxiety & have a
dreamlike quality
Poe explored the dark and often irrational side of the human mind
(Hawthorne can be said to have explored the dark side of the
human heart)
After the death of his wife, Poe went insane, desperately trying to
find someone to take her place
His death remains a mystery; his final words were, “God help my
poor soul.”
Bellwork:
 What are five things usually found in a horror story?
1. __________________________________
2. __________________________________
3. __________________________________
4. __________________________________
5. __________________________________
Post “Tell-Tale Heart”
15 minutes to complete and turn in
 On the back of your epitaphs for “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”
 Draw a book cover for the “Tell-Tale Heart”
 Must have on the right side:
 3 symbols from the story
 Title
 Author
 1 Quote
 Must have on the left side:
 A 5 sentence plot summary of the story
o Can either be in the narrator’s 1st person, or a critic’s p.o.v.
• Example: This is my story.The story of a man who should be pardoned for his crimes.
I never wanted to hurt the old man….it was just his eye!
Poe "The Tell-Tale Heart"
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5wAqADsMMU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmyFXxqLZX8
(7 min cartoon clip)
“The Tell-Tale Heart” Bellwork
On a separate piece of paper with your NAME on it, write
AGREE or DISAGREE to the following statements
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
People who are insane always know they are insane
Sane people sometimes imagine they hear things
If you commit a major crime, sooner or later you will be
caught.
When you’ve done something wrong, your conscience eats
away at you.
All people share similar fears
“The Tell-Tale Heart” Activity
 On the back of your two epitaphs….complete the following assignment
Draw a book cover for “The Tell-Tale Heart”
On the right side:
Must include four symbols
Two quotes from the story (one simile and one alliteration)
The “title” and author
An original theme listed at the bottom
On the left side:
Write a five sentence summary (either from your perspective as a
critique or the narrator’s perspective of the story)
Poe "Masque of the Red Death"
Audio Book
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kkCPGvJ71c
Video Clip of Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjrLFW0Y50I
“Masque of the Red Death” Grammar
Activity
Create your own Masque of the Red Death using words and images
that are from or describe the story!
 Must include:
 Three Proper Nouns
 Three Adverbs from the story or that describe the story
 Five Adjectives
 Five Common Nouns
 Three Action Verbs
 3 images (drawn)
 Anything else you want – make sure you decorate the front and the
back and cut it out!
Bellwork: Review of the
“Masque of the Red Death”
1.
What kind of party does Prince Prospero have for his guests?
2.
What is happening as the guests stop dancing and the orchestra
stops playing?
3.
What shows up at midnight? What does “it” look like?
4.
What happens to everyone in the castle?
5.
Write one symbol and its meaning.
6.
What is one theme to this story?
"The Raven"
Simpsons Clip (7 mins)
Raven Class Discussion Questions
1. What is important about the title of the poem, "The Raven"? Why does he use the title?
2. What are the conflicts in "The Raven"? What types of conflict (physical, moral, intellectual,
or emotional) do you read?
3. How does Edgar Allan Poe reveal character in "The Raven"?
4. What are some themes? Symbols? How do they relate to the overall flow or meaning of the
poem?
5. Does the poem end the way you expected? How? Why?
6. What is the central/primary purpose of the poem? Is the purpose important or meaningful?
7. How does the work relate to Poe's other works of supernatural and horror literature?
8. What is the significance of the raven in mythology and literature?
9. How is madness or insanity explored in the poem?
Poe "Annabel Lee"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swrriM1vuk
Mini-Quiz
1.
Who did Poe write this for?
2.
What happened to the above person? (be specific)
3.
What is the setting of this poem?
4.
Who/What killed Annabel Lee?
5.
Where does the narrator spend all his time after Annabel’s
death?
“Annabel Lee”
And this was the reason that, long
It was many and many a year ago, ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
In this kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
you may know
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
By the name of Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And this maiden she lived with no And bore her away from me,
other thought
To shut her up in a sepulchre
Than to love and be loved by me. In this kingdom by the sea.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than weOf many far wiser than weAnd neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me
dreams
I was a child and she was a child, The angels, not half so happy in
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
In this kingdom by the sea;
heaven,
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
But we loved with a love that was Went envying her and meOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;
more than loveYes!- that was the reason (as all men And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
I and my Annabel Lee;
know,
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my
With a love that the winged
In this kingdom by the sea)
bride,
seraphs of heaven
That the wind came out of the cloud In the sepulchre there by the sea,
Coveted her and me.
by night,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. -The End-
Study Guide Questions
1. What is the setting (time and place)?
2. What is the format (stanza’s, lines per stanza, rhyme scheme)?
3. What lines inform you of Annabel’s death? According to the speaker, why did Annabel die?
4. How old are the two loves? Does this remind you of anything that you’ve read before (motif)?
5. The speaker states that his and Annabel’s love is stronger than what two groups of people?
6. Where are the angels located? Demons?
7. Where does the speaker spend most of his time after the death of Annabel?
8. Where do we see alliteration in the poem?
9. Where do we see the two contrasting images of dark and light?
Poe "Alone"
Poe “Alone”
From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.
Study Guide Questions
1. How is the speaker different from others in this poem?
2. How does he/she love? How is this possible?
3. What is the speaker’s childhood like? Give specific examples
4. What do you think the “demon” in the speaker’s view
represents?
Poe Boy Project
Using primary and secondary sources from the Poe Packet
Groups and Activities
Group 1: “Life and Times of Edgar Allen Poe”
Group 2: Chronology of the Life and Times of EAP
Group 3: The Philadelphia Years: Poe’s Works
Group 4: Poe’s Wife: Virginia
Group 5: Poe the Poet
Group 6: Master of Horror
Group 7: A Reputation Ruined
Instructions
 Read through your source and annotate important ideas
 Grab a large piece of presentation paper and title it
 write all group names on the back
 Fill the paper creatively and in an organized way using important
facts and ideas from your source
 Could be a timeline
 Could be simply key words and pictures
 Could be a drawing of a “raven” or a symbol we have discussed with the
ideas inside of it….
 BE CREATIVE! And…Write BIG enough for the entire class to see when you
PRESENT your findings Monday!
Poe Word Search
 Fastest TWO people get +2 points on their Unit VI Test
Poe Links:
 Great Books: Frankenstein
 Profile of Edgar Allen Poe
 http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=7530
B706-81D6-4233-86BF1988081FEE7C&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US
 The Tell-Tale Heart
 http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=1C8
B94A4-0F48-4963-9EFBC48799115A61&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US
 The Pit and the Pendulum
 http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=C0F
DB1D1-CB2E-4D1F-AA263C0AF4273ADA&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US
Transcendentalism
Thoreau
Emerson
The Transcendentalists
“The Literary Hippie Movement”
 1830’s and 1840’s
 Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent
goodness of both man and nature.
 Transcendentalists believed that society and its institutions -
particularly organized religion and political parties ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual.
 They had faith that man is at his best when truly "self-reliant" and
independent. It is only from such real individuals that true
community could be formed.
The Transcendentalists
“The Literary Hippie Movement”
 1830’s and 1840’s
 Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent
goodness of both man and nature.
 Transcendentalists believed that society and its institutions -
particularly organized religion and political parties ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual.
 They had faith that man is at his best when truly "self-reliant" and
independent. It is only from such real individuals that true
community could be formed.
Beliefs
 Accentuate the value of the simple life and nature
 Each individual needs to discover the higher truths through
their own intuition (spiritualism)
 Stressed the American ideals of optimism, freedom, and selfreliance
 Disliked the commercial / financial side of American life and
opposed Puritan heritage
 Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
Ralph Waldo Emerson
 “Self-Reliance”
 Emerson wrote on a number of subjects, never espousing fixed
philosophical tenets, but developing certain ideas such as
individuality, freedom, the ability for humankind to realize
almost anything, and the relationship between the soul and the
surrounding world.
 Emerson's "nature" was more philosophical than naturalistic
 "Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature
and the Soul."
Thoreau – The Political
Anarchist?
 “Civil Disobedience” :
an argument for individual resistance to
civil government in moral opposition to an
unjust state.
 He was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the
Fugitive Slave Law
 Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience later influenced the political
thoughts and actions of such notable figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas
Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
 Thoreau is sometimes cited as an individualist anarchist.
 Though Civil Disobedience seems to call for improving rather than
abolishing government
Transcendentalist Poem
 Based on Emerson’s ideas in “Self-Reliance” write a 7-10 line
poem that shows how someone can either be a conformist or
a non-conformist at Wando.
 Be specific and stick to Emerson’s beliefs and theories in your
poem
If the person is a conformist, it should be written against them
If the person is a nonconformist, it should be written for them
Utopian Brochure Project
 The transcendentalists want you and your partner (same
partners as before) to design a society for them so that they
can freely express their beliefs and finally become one with
nature.
 It is up to you to create this utopian (perfect) society for these
transcendentalists.
 The society will need to have a brochure that includes the
following information:
 A name for the society (name needs to be creative and representative
of Transcendentalist values. See your notes.)
 A 7-10 line pledge/poem illustrating the values and allegiances
(loyalty, commitment) of the society.
 This pledge needs to include at least two (2) of the major premises of
Transcendentalism
 A flag (colors and artwork must be symbolic of transcendentalism)
 A map promoting your utopia
 Should include work buildings, homes, nature, etc.
 2 quotes (correctly cited) from Emerson
 2 quotes (correctly cited) from Thoreau
Transcendentalism T-Shirt Project
 For this project, you are going to pick a story we read for Unit VI
(Gothic or Transcendentalism) and design a T-shirt based on that story
using images and words (symbols, settings, author, theme, etc.) that
support the ideas in that story.You could add a plot line if you would like
as well.
 Your t-shirt needs to have a front and back (cut out and glued together)
with designs representing the story covering both sides of the shirt.
 Do not leave blank space! The story you picked should be clear based on
the symbols you use
 If you choose to do a “Transcendentalist T-shirt” you may design a utopia
shirt instead promoting their beliefs in both stories with a perfect world