Dark Romanticism

(1) Dark Romantics took issue with the inherent goodness found in the transcendental philosophy, whereas the transcendental idea worked with people who were fairly emotionally stable and strong of mind and spirit, it does not hold true to everyone. People who were raised in a emotionally or physically abusive situation are likely to have impulses that are not pure and true, I know there have been times when my head thought it was a good idea to do something but I knew that it wasn't. Some of the most famous Dark Romantics had extremely disturbed lives, in the case of Edgar Allen Poe his mother and father died when he was very young, and two of his wives died of tuberculosis. Nathanael Hawthorne's great grandfather sentenced people to death during the Salem which trials. the majority of the transcendentalists had fairly stable lives without seeing too much emotional abuse,k intended or not. one can imagine that people who were raised in a turbulent situation would have a less than pristine idea of human nature, as apposed to the transcendentalists who believed that everyone was good at heart, which was true with the situation they developed in.

(2)I would say I am closer to being a Transcendentalist except I realize there are messed up people in this world but I trust in my own intuition to be able to identify these people and not associate with them. I also trust in my intuition to be able to only get close to people who are good at heart and people I can trust.

(3) The story "The Black Cat" is a very interesting story, Edgar Allan Poe seems to have a reoccurring theme of animals causing utter terror to the narrator, the raven is another good example of that. in the beginning of the story the narrator expresses his humane demeanor towards animals of all sorts, stating "From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions" in his adulthood his favorite pet is that of a solid black cat, one which loves him immensely and always stays near him. our narrator speaks of his increasing use of alcohol and how it makes him begin to lose his humanity saying, "I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others... My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition. I not only neglected, but ill-used them. For Pluto [the cat] however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him." until one day when Pluto scratched him and he snapped and stabbed his cat's eye out. one day he was annoyed at Pluto's dislike towards him, due to the eye incident, and hung him in a tree. eventually he gets a new cat and ends up killing it also, and soon after his wife. something went seriously wrong with this guy.

Poe has an obvious opinion of alcohol, suffering from it's addictive grip himself. this story is a prime example of dark romanticism. a person, usually fairly humane and timid, finds himself in the grip of evil, totally succumbs, and ends up killing two cats and one person. this isn't exactly a realistic story, it is extremely unlikely that a person given a decent upbringing, no history of violent behavior, and no history of mental illness would do something like this but it is still possible for those people who are violent and mentally ill. one problem I have with both the transcendentalists and the dark romantics is there is no gray area with them, either everyone is pure, or everyone has a bit of evil that can take them over and cause them to do horrendous things. there are people who are both, there is no one rule than can define all humans, some are absolutely evil, some are absolutely good, but most are somewhere in between.

the raven was probably Edgar Allan Poe's most famous work, speaking of the general depression of death and general sorrow. the bird in this story represents Poe's unwavering loneliness and depression and general inability to be contented. Maybe Poe's most famous works were only written while he was in the throes of depression and/or addiction but he seems unable to be happy. when his wife was alive he was probably sad about something or other, once his wife died he would be even more unhappy, and as soon as he got over his wife's death he would probably find something else to be sad about. this is a very vicious cycle, the more one things about bad things the sadder one gets and the more used to thinking about bad things he becomes. if someone is sad most of his childhood, such as if their parents died and they didn't have somewhere stable to stay, this person will only be used to thinking negatively for the formative years of his life, thus getting into an atrocious feedback loop of unhappiness.
in this story the raven represents his own depression. I think the raven represents Poe's own feelings about life, he only realizes that he has always been unhappy and always will be unhappy when his wife dies. while the raven only comes in a physical form when Lenore dies, it's spirit about life is Poe's own, that he will be forever unhappy, not only because of Lenore's death but because of his general outlook on life, and I think that is why the raven says "nevermore" even when he gets over his wife's death he still has a naturally depressed disposition, but he must blame this disposition on his wife's death.

the transcendentalists believed that people's nature was good and somehow beneficial at heart this poem shows with firsthand evidence that this is not true, if everyone was good and pure why would anyone ever be unhappy? the raven is the impurity in people, telling them they will fail, they will never be happy, and life will never get any better. this seems to be Poe's major disposition towards life, his unhappiness.

(1)"The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood" Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote this in Nature. this idea of reverting to childhood in some ways echos my thoughts on the subject, children naturally stay healthy by playing and enjoying the world around them, wheras jaded adults have accepted the world for what it is and stop being astounded by its wonders.

Emerson also talks about how nature can change depending on the type of mood you are in, "Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or mourning piece." says Emerson of the duality of nature.

this is a good example of transcendentalism because of the authors love of nature, but with a slightly more down to earth tone. Loving nature for it's natural beauty instead of the romantics love of it for it's amazing ability to inspire imagination. Emerson speaks of the importance of receding from society and the importance of being self sustainable, using your own energy to continue to make energy for yourself.

(2)Emerson's Self-Reliance is an interesting piece or writing. he speaks of the importance of hard work,"A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best." He also speaks of the importance of being able to survive alone, speaking of societies as "in the conspiracy against the manhood of every one of it's members." I like his idea that to be great is to be misunderstood, people ahead of their time are often looked down upon by general society just because of the sheer fact of a person being more advanced than another, the other people resent this man for his forward thinking attitude.

Emerson talks at great lengths of hard work and the importance of making your own life. emerson obviously values simplicity, his idea's of resistance to organized society and trusting yourself instead of over analyzing everything you do. there seems to be a common thread in transcendentalism of receding from society in order to understand yourself better.

(3)I enjoy Thoreau's writing style a fair bit more than Emerson's. Thoreau doesn't try to over complicate his writing, instead opting for clear words that are to the point and easily understandable. I agree with the statement, "the government is best which governs the least
", but we would need a utopia for anarchy to still be able to be peaceful. I think that Thoreau was jaded by his incarceration which led him to only think of the negatives about government. I wonder if Thoreau would want to sacrifice the protection of his human rights, or the protection from robbery or something of that sort. I strongly agree that we should not be governed by the majority vote and instead what is morally right but again, we do not live in a perfect world and in his own words,"[Government] is liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it."

Thoreau's Resistance to civil government is probably the penultimate description of transcendentalism's relation to government, people would need to interact with each other less in order for his theories of government to work, having all the individuals transcend the idea of an organized government and live righteously and morally to all other humans. we all know this can't happen but it is a nice idea.



1)) if I were in the situation of being engaged to my high school sweetheart and she wanted to go to a school a very far away, I would tell my fiancee to go to school and let us go our separate ways until she and I are ready to settle down, I do not think that directly after highschool is the time to get married, people need time to grow and experience life on their own before settling in.

I think that a transcendentalist would do something similar in this situation. Transcendentalists value self reliance and self awareness through knowing themselves and trusting themselves. Transcendentalists believed that the voice in your head was the voice of god, telling you to do what was good and true. "nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." says Emerson in Self Reliance."

Papillon Response 1

Papillon is a true account of Henri Charriere, a man who was framed for the murder of a pimp and sentenced to hard labor for life an a 1930's French prison, and his subsequent escape. the writing style of this book is very refreshing, it is obvious that the author is not an experienced writer. this writing style really goes to convey his raw feelings about the situations he was in, instead of being heavily edited it feels like the writer just wrote exactly how he felt, without need of frilly writing.

the brutal treatment of the prisoners is fairly astonishing compared to today, Papillon was subjected to a hulking prisoner under the guards control, in order to defeat this foe he poured boiling water in his face. there are many examples of this type of treatment throughout the book.

My plans directly after highschool

Since I can remember I have had wanderlust, the need to travel and see the world, but strangely enough I have only been out of the country once, to Amsterdam. I have seen the East and West Coast but not much in-between. This desire to move around might stem from my father, who has traveled the world in various Rock n’ Roll bands. I think a more likely reason for my need to move is to broaden my horizons, so to speak, to gain a greater understanding of the world and it’s inhabitants through personal experience. After high school, most people either go to college immediately, or settle into a career choice, but I aim to do neither of these things. After high school, while I am able to move, I plan to move as much as possible.
Coming from a middle-class family of at least decent intelligence, most of my relatives went to college, and most of these directly after high school. They all say one should have a larger worldview before attending a college that usually cements you in a certain career or field. I feel the more variation one experiences in life, the more versatile that person can be. If not for experiences, why do we live life? The majority of people who go to college directly after high school have their career decided by their major, and when they get out of college they get a job in their career of choice and just move up, taking vacations here and there to see new places. I would rather do it in one quick burst and have as much experience in different locales as possible as early as possible.
There is also the romantic idea of a nomad, one who just goes where the going is good, never staying in one place for too long. While having a home is nice, I do want to experience not having a solid comfortable place to stay. Due to my father’s touring of the world he has friends and connections in most major cities. who would probably oblige me to stay for one night here and there. I also train for a discipline called Parkour, an art of movement involving overcoming obstacles at speed, and the practitioners around the world are notoriously helpful to fellow practitioners. If all else fails there are always hostels and hotels.
There are many ways one would need to prepare for a journey of this magnitude: financially, physically, mentally, and materially. Right now I try to live as cheaply as possible to save money: I don’t have a car, I don’t have a cell phone, and I am able to live off of $25 a week; other than that I save all the money I get. Not only would I need money, I would need to be able to travel with minimum excess baggage. I would have to be able to carry all of my essentials in an average sized backpack. I would include a tent, for times when housing isn’t available, a small number of clothes, a GPS device with Internet capability, some sort of first aid kit, and many other necessities. I would also need to be extremely physically fit in order to endure the possible hardships that come with living without the many of the luxuries of modern life.
Many people travel, few people travel extensively. Before I die I would like to travel as far and wide as I possibly can, preferably visiting all seven continents, and if technology keeps progressing like it has, maybe someday going beyond our own atmosphere. The more varied experiences I have, the better I can comprehend the world as a whole, and what better way to experience varied culture and situations than by travelling? The vast majority of people are complacent in the small level of experience they have had, staying in their comfort zone without ever improving their ability to cope with experiences that make them uncomfortable--I am not this way. I seek to always improve, move forward, and adapt in ways that will fit my current environment. The world never stands still--everything is always changing--everything is always moving; should I not accept this and become comfortable with movement, both on a long and short-term basis?

American Romanticism.

The short story, Sleepy Hollow, is a very interesting example of romantic thought; all of the locales in the story are very pristine pictures of nature and abundance. The people in the story are endearingly rustic and simple, the type of townspeople you would expect to meet in a 19th century country village. Perhaps our vision of townspeople is greatly affected by the romantic portrayal of simple townsfolk that was created during this era of creativity. The author also really gives the story a rustic feel by using words that are very reminiscent of the time, such as peradventure, coquette, and pedagogue. The author also does a good job of representing the people with a certain playfulness that many aristocrats could not muster. For instance, in describing the “hero” of the town, Brom Bones, the author says, “Sometimes his crew would be heard dashing along past the farmhouses at midnight, with whoop and halloo, like a troop of Don Cossacks; and the old dames, startled out of their sleep, would listen for a moment till the hurry-scurry had clattered by, and then exclaim, "Ay, there goes Brom Bones and his gang!" The neighbors looked upon him with a mixture of awe, admiration, and good-will; and, when any madcap prank or rustic brawl occurred in the vicinity, always shook their heads, and warranted Brom Bones was at the bottom of it.”
The portrayal of simple people enjoying life as much or more than highly educated people is interesting. The people in romantic stories gain life experience from engaging themselves in something, actually experiencing things, rather than learning facts from a book as was the tradition in Europe. The best way to understand something is to use it and rely upon it. No matter how many tutorials you read about ballet you will never come anywhere close to knowing how to dance unless you actually practice.



The poem Thanatopsis is all about the lighter side of death. The poem speaks of people going back to nature, no matter how you lived your life you are bound to return to nature when you die. The poem says you will be equal to the dirt and rocks, but that all other people who ever died are there with you, you will be in the company of great people from all eras. You are free to spend your afterlife musing with the likes of Ptolemy and sir Isaac Newton. This is a good show of romantic thought because of the themes of nature and the generally unrealistic outlook; the most logical thing that happens when you die if you just cease to exist, you stop thinking and operating instead of going and hanging out with a bunch of cool dead guys.


The poem “the ropewalk” is all about imagination, how even when you are doing something as tedious and boring as making a rope you can use your imagination to make it more fun, imagining the people as spiders spinning webs and fair maidens swinging on swings. The ideas of just getting away from it all is a very romantic idea, we imagine days without worry, without work. I think that we should, instead of enjoying an idea that will never happen, we should learn to enjoy our everyday activities as a realist would.