Dark Romanticism

I think Hawthorne would be against transcendentalism. Transcendentalist believe that everyone has a part of God inside of them. That man itself has a stronger power and mind then any government that could ever be made. Hawthorne on the other hand, had ancestors who were judges. Judges who would hang and kill people because of others who claimed they were evil.

In my point of few there is no way that Herman Melville could ever be the same person. If you see humans fighting to eat other humans you've seen the unbelievable. I understand that that was probably the only thing they had to survive, but I think by Melville seeing that that showed him that you fight or die. So, no I don't think he thinks everyone is pure.

Edgar Allen Poe has completely different morals then transcendentalist. Even though I feel its not his fault, but the fault of the environment he grew up in. If you are writing stories and poems about everyone starting off with a touch of evil, you most likely believe in original sin. That everyone is born a sinner because of Adam and Eve.

I think I am more with the transcendentalist. The way I feel when I go outside by myself, even if its not the prettiest sight, the atmosphere just takes me to another place. I also feel like everyone does connect in some sort of way. Once you become real close to a certain person you realize more and more you guys think alike or you might even say the same thing at the same time. Its just hard to believe that if we are all from one thing, that we wouldn't have a part of each other.

After reading The Black Cat it kind of scared me. The story is about a man who has a huge obsession over animals. He gets married, and as a coincidence his wife loves them too. One day he gets a black cat and his wife goes on and on about a old myth that they are evil. He cares for the cat very much and ignores his wife, but day by day he grows meaner and meaner. He stops taking care of all the animals except for the one black cat, Pluto. I thought that was very weird that he would only start caring for that one cat when his wife said it was evil. Then, he started to become mean and ill, he would even cuss at his wife occasionally. This is where it relates to Dark Romanticism, they think the cat is evil and now has turned him evil. "In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise." I don't believe in it, but it did freak me out, especially when he hung some animal and was crying. He had turned "evil" but still knew it was wrong so he was crying as the "evil" took over him.

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, was a very intriguing poem. What I interpret the poem as is his wife is dieing, and the raven is used as a symbol of scariness and sorrow. He keeps hearing something at his door, but no ones every there, and finally the raven comes through the window. The line, "Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;" stuck out to me. This is where he wants you to know he is terrified. It is late at night and hes so dramatized by what is happening to his wife that he starts to hallucinate that something is there calling for him. "And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"-- He feels as if something is out there repeating what he said, because he only whispered the words and they came back louder then ever.

This relates to dark romanticism because of the imagination. Not only the imagination, but the evil imagination. In the poem this guys conscience is not completely pure. Something is haunting him because of the way he feels. "In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore." Here he is explaining the symbol of the Raven, that not only does he represent sorrow but he also represents saintly evil.

Not only did Edgar Allan Poe's wife die when he was literally in the next room, both his parents also died when he was only three years old. I can see how this would change his state of mind. Of course he had to be more independent, which would explain why he is so open minded and has such a big imagination. Also, if he had to face that his parents died at such a young age, death probably didn't become such a big thing to him. Everything that happens in every ones life affects the way the think and feel about certain situations, and I can see where Poe comes from.