Lesson 9: Transcendentalism and Dark Romanticism

Emerson, Thoreau, Poe & Melville

What defines Transcendentalism in 19th-century American literature?

A philosophical and literary movement emphasizing individual intuition, the inherent goodness of people and nature, self-reliance, spiritual insight, and the interconnectedness of all life (Oversoul).

What characterizes Dark Romanticism?

human fallibility, sin, moral ambiguity, obsession, psychological depth, isolation, and the darker side of nature

often using gothic settings and horror elements.

How does Transcendentalism differ from Dark Romanticism?

Transcendentalism is optimistic, focusing on spiritual growth, intuition, and the unity of humans and nature

Dark Romanticism is pessimistic, exploring human sin, guilt, obsession, and psychological struggle.

What is the Transcendentalist concept of the Oversoul?

The Oversoul is a universal spiritual force connecting all individuals, nature, and God, emphasizing the unity and divinity of life.

What does “self-reliance” mean in Emerson’s philosophy?

It encourages trusting one’s own intuition and judgment, valuing individual thought over societal expectations.

Who was Ralph Waldo Emerson and what did he contribute?

Emerson (1803–1882) was a Transcendentalist philosopher, essayist, and poet. He emphasized intuition, self-reliance, the Oversoul, and the spiritual value of nature.

Who was Henry David Thoreau and what did he contribute?

Thoreau (1817–1862) was a Transcendentalist writer and philosopher, best known for Walden and his reflections on simple living, civil disobedience, and personal introspection.

Who was Herman Melville and what is his literary significance?

Melville (1819–1891) was a Dark Romantic novelist and short-story writer, exploring human obsession, alienation, sin, and the unknowable aspects of existence.

Who was Edgar Allan Poe and what did he contribute?

Poe (1809–1849) was a Dark Romantic poet, short-story writer, and critic, focusing on death, madness, the gothic, and the psychological depths of human experience.

He also promoted the autonomy of literature, emphasizing aesthetic and imaginative power.

“I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all.”

Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1836).

• Significance: Expresses union with nature and the Oversoul, emphasizing selflessness and spiritual insight.

“But my efforts were fruitless. It is an irreparable loss to literature.”

Tha fall of the House of Usher, 1839 by Poe

Narrator admits his failure to understand events

“Bartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from the original sources, and in his case those are very small.”

Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville (1853).

• Significance: Highlights mystery, isolation, and the unknowable aspects of human nature — central to Dark Romanticism.

“While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping.” — work, author, significance?

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (1845).

• Significance: Sets gothic, suspenseful atmosphere, drawing the reader into psychological tension.

“And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting on the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door.”

The Raven by Poe (1845).

• Significance: Symbolizes unrelenting grief and permanence of loss, a hallmark of Dark Romanticism.

“What was it—I paused to think—what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher?”

The Fall of the House of Usher by Poe (1839).

• Significance: Shows psychological disturbance and terror inspired by gothic architecture.

While I hesitated not to acknowledge how familiar was all this—I still wondered to find how unfamiliar were the fancies which ordinary images were stirring up.”

The Fall of the House of Usher by Poe (1839).

• Significance: Explores how ordinary settings can provoke unsettling psychological experiences, reflecting Dark Romantic focus on imagination and the mind.

“The lady, at least while living, would be seen by me no more.”

The Fall of the House of Usher by Poe (1839).

• Significance: Demonstrates themes of death, loss, and the supernatural, central to Dark Romanticism.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately…”

Walden, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” by Henry David Thoreau (1854).

• Significance: Summarizes Transcendentalist values: deliberate living, simplicity, self-reliance, and moral awareness gained through nature rather than society.

“I would prefer not to.”

Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville (1853).

• Significance: Bartleby’s passive resistance rejects authority and social expectations, embodying alienation, negation of action, and existential withdrawal, central to Dark Romanticism.

“Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance.”

Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville (1853).

• Significance: Highlights the narrator’s frustration with Bartleby’s refusal to act, exposing the limits of rational authority and the unsettling power of passivity.

“Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!”

Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville (1853).

• Significance: Turns Bartleby into a symbol of universal human suffering, aligning the story with Dark Romantic pessimism about society and the human condition.

Compare Emerson and Thoreau’s Transcendentalism.

Emerson focuses on philosophical principles, self-reliance, and spiritual unity,

Thoreau applies these ideas practically through simple living, nature observation, and civil disobedience.

Compare Melville and Poe as Dark Romantics.

Melville explores human obsession, isolation, and moral ambiguity in long narratives

while Poe emphasizes psychological horror, gothic aesthetics, and the autonomy of literature in poetry and short stories.

How does Emerson’s Nature illustrate Transcendentalist ideals?

Through union with the Oversoul, self-reliance, and intuitive perception of truth, emphasizing the spiritual and moral growth possible in nature.

How does Thoreau’s Walden embody Transcendentalist practice?

Through intentional simplicity, immersion in nature, and self-exploration, demonstrating the application of Emersonian philosophy to daily life.

How does Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener reflect Dark Romantic themes?

By portraying alienation, passivity, existential mystery, and human limits, emphasizing the psychological and societal darkness central to the genre.

How does Poe’s work explore psychological and gothic elements?

Poe’s The Raven and The Fall of the House of Usher use death, decay, suspense, and the imagination to probe human fear, grief, and mental disturbance, illustrating the Dark Romantic fascination with human fragility.