Author Background Information
Writers during this time period were known as...
Romantics
What time period did the Romantic period take place?
1800-1860s
Dominant themes in Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
Youth, Old Age, Death, Science and the Supernatural, Reality and Illusion, Mistakes and Morality
What was the Tell Tale Heart about?
A man who murders an elderly man because he can't stand one of his eyes
“Drink, then,” said the doctor, bowing: “I rejoice that I have so well selected the subjects of my experiment.”
Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
Many of his characters аrе filled with madness and this writer is obsessed with the irrational side of the mind.
Edgar Allen Poe
What form of writing did writers of the Romantic era see as the highest expression of the imagination
Poetry
Main themes in The Tell Tale Heart
madness and sanity, the pressure of guilt, and the passage of time
What was The Devil and Tom Walker about?
A short story about the dangers of greed. A man makes a deal with the devil in the swamps near his hometown and pays the price for it.
I looked upon the scene before me--upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain--upon the bleak walls--upon the vacant eye-like windows--upon a few rank sedges--and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees...
The Fall of the House of Usher
This writer borrowed themes and techniques from Poe and Hawthorne.
Walt Whitman
What values did writers emphasize in this time period?
Valued feeling, intuition, idealism, and inductive reasoning
Main themes in The Fall of The House of Usher
madness, the supernatural, and artistic purpose
What was The Fall of the House of Usher about?
A man gets a letter in the mail to visit a childhood friend of his. When he visits he finds that the abode is falling apart--as are its inhabitants.
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done
O Captain My Captain
Was known as the first "professional writer" in America; wrote to entertain people.
Washington Irving
What was the style that Dark Romantics, like Edgar Allen Poe, use?
Gothic Style
What were the main themes in The Devil and Tom Walker
greed, corruption, and misery
What was Dr. Heidegger's Experiment about?
A scientist invites various elderly figures to participate in his experiment that will help restore their vitality. He gives them a warning to not repeat past mistakes but his words fall on deaf ears.
So I opened it — you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily — until, at length a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell upon the vulture eye. It was open — wide, wide open — and I grew furious as I gazed upon it.
The Tell Tale Heart
Was born in Salem, Massachusetts, and took inspiration from Puritan values and writings.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
What were two major aspects/virtues that writers of this era championed?
The individual (individual freedom), and spirituality (through nature)
What were the dominant themes of O Captain My Captain and I Hear America Singing?
democracy, life/death cycles, individualism, and nature
What was O Captain My Captain about?
It was a metaphor for the death of President Lincon just after the end of the civil war with America being represented as the ship in the poem.
He consoled himself for the loss of his property, with the loss of his wife, for he was a man of fortitude. He even felt something like gratitude toward the black woodsman, who, he considered, had done him a kindness.
The Devil and Tom Walker