Dark Romanticism

The shadow wing of American Romanticism: sin beneath nature, the heart's abyss, and haunted conscience.

Specifications & Metrics

era

c. 1830 – 1900

region

United States

key figures

Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville

exemplar

'The Raven' (1845); The Scarlet Letter (1850); Moby-Dick (1851)

introduced

1830

Core Principles & Analysis

• It answered Transcendental optimism with the fallibility beneath the self.
• Poe's psychology, Hawthorne's guilt, and Melville's doubt are its triangle.
• Its legacy runs straight into Gothic and horror fiction's American line.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Dark romanticism