American Romanticism

American Romanticism

Violet Rosenberg

Table of Contents PrefacE Overview Novel: The Scarlet Letter Play: "Under the Gaslight" Poet Profile: Edgar Allan Poe Poem: "The Raven" Short Story: "Benito Cereno" Works Cited

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Preface

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.�

-Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Over the duration of the school year, I immersed myself in American Romanticism. I chose American Romanticism because I knew of a few authors and novels from the literary period but I never had the opportunity to read or analyze the works. I feared that I would never read The Scarlet Letter before I left high-school, so I took this Literary Periods Project as my chance. This literary period proved invigorating through its unique themes such as isolation, nature as an escape, and supernaturalism. These themes were reactions to the Enlightenment, products of the rebellion against logic and reason. The United States rejected these scholastic values and replaced them with the opposite, the values that were present before the Enlightenment. Therefore, common literary symbols were replaced as well. The common man was raised to the extraordinary through the value of the individual, intelligent thought was found in nature instead of education, and the supernatural was possible and could be used to explain mysterious events. The Scarlet Letter is the perfect embodiment of Romantic values. The novel is based on individualism and incorporated supernaturalism in nature. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne strongly believed in these themes and incorporated messages that express pure Romantic thought. American Romanticism set the foundations for modern literature. The revolutions that took place during the Romantic period have defined American literature for over 150 years.

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American Romanticism: Rebellion Against Reason

“Liberalism in literature,” Victor Hugo’s definition of Romanticism accurately captures the essence of American Romanticism, which started in Europe, but eventually found its way to America and continues to influence literature today. Hugo was a French poet, novelist and playwright during the Romantic period, and believed that theater should express “both the grotesque and the sublime of human existence.” Themes and ideas, like those identified by Hugo, were revolutionary and rebellious. American Romanticism was a rebellion against the classical values of the Enlightenment and emerged as a result of the American Revolution.

The Age of Reason during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, also known as the Enlightenment, spawned Romanticism. Once it was realized that reason could solve all problems and define the unknowns, the public was disappointed. Logic was unable to explain evil, madness, magic, and other mysteries, which resulted in popular refusal of reason and rationality. The American public subsequently rebelled against all values of the Age of Reason. Objectivity was replaced by subjectivity, the public and community by the individual, and science by nature.

“Romantics consider ‘nature as the antithesis of inherited and institutionalized practices of thought.” (Source 1) Because of all the ideas that were unexplained during the Age of Reason, people turned to God, specifically in nature, for answers. Many Romantics believed in Pantheism, the idea that God is present in everything in the universe, primarily nature. This was in contras to philosophes’ (Enlightenment philosophers), who believed that nature perfectly represented

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scientific principles in the way that it was an “orderly representation of the universe” (Source 2).

Nature also provided and environment for anyone to escape the stressful urban cities emerging at the time, which was caused by the Industrial Revolution. This allowed them to reconnect with their spirituality and gave them a sense of freedom and peace. This inspired many Romantics, who included the new thinking and spirituality in their works.

This new thinking led many to change the way they wrote not only to oppose the Enlightenment, but also to further express themselves. The Age of Reason was a time for new scientific and scholastic discoveries. Because of their basis in facts, these discoveries relied on an objective viewpoint. As part of the rebellion against reason, Romantics resisted the objective perspective and opted for a subjective viewpoint. Romantic literature focused on emotional views in contrast to the reasonable and practical outlooks of classical literature. A subjective perspective allowed unique opinions and works to be published, and the focus was concentrated on an individual and his or her ideas, a concept unique to the Romantic period. In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn, there is a strong sense of individualism. The main character, Hester Prynne, was excluded from her entire community. As an individual, she opposes the community, paralleling the opposition of Romantic writers to the value and sense of community in their works. The story focuses on how she and her lover, with whom she has an affair, individually deal with the repercussions of their affair. They are shunned from their community and isolated.Their solitude provides a unique viewpoint that displays the value of individualism in American Romanticism.

American Romanticism was also influenced by the American Revolution. The rebellion against England paralleled, and perhaps even sparked, the rebellion in literature. While patriots physically rebelled against the British, they mentally rebelled against their strictness, conformity, and classical values. The newly independent country promoted expansion, growth, and freedom.

The new sense of freedom was inspired by American’s independence from England and the new land accessible to them. It seemed that they had no geographical limitations—the new land in the west seemed very promising. This freedom translated into literature, where authors were very liberal. Many authors wrote subjectively to display their daring opinions because this new freedom allowed them to do so. The new land also inspired many authors to write about nature, which was highly valued during the Romantic period.

American Romanticism started as a rebellion against the Enlightenment and was affected by the American Revolution. The Enlightenment disappointed the public, so they rebelled. They replaced logical and reasonable values with the those that were spiritual and subjective. Individuality, a major theme in Romantic literature, is still encouraged and honored today. American Romanticism was unique because of its revolutionary themes and ideas, and continues to affect American modern literature.

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The Scarlet Letter: ThE Epitome of American Romanticism

“The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread” (Hawthorne, 176). Isolation and individuality are major themes in The Scarlet Letter. They are the most common and important themes of Romanticism. Through the novel, Hester Prynne is constantly excluded and isolated because of her adultery; she is punished with wearing a scarlet “A” on her chest. This separates her from the strict Puritan community she belonged to. Another unique quality of Romanticism is subjectivity. The decision of including a narrator in the novel allows Hawthorne to express his ideas more easily and clearly. The narrator parallels Hawthorne in many ways and could arguably be Hawthorne himself. Hester’s individuality, the narrator’s subjectivity, and Puritan beliefs in society are connected by the ideals of Romanticism that heavily influenced Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Individuality is a common theme in Romantic works, and is arguably the principal theme of The Scarlet Letter. The novel revolves around Hester’s exclusion and isolation from society.

Her actions result in judgment by the townspeople and the reputation as an outcast. “Measured by the prisoner’s experience, however, it might reckoned a journey of some length; for, haughty as her demeanor was, she perchance underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung in the street for them all to spurn and trample upon” (47). The description of Hester’s walk to the scaffold portrays it as torturous; it demonstrates the judgment and hate she receives as her community subjects her to more suffering.

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Once there, isolated on the scaffold, she is humiliated by the entire town staring and judging.

Later in the novel, Hester moves with her daughter Pearl to a cottage at the edge of town. The narrator suggests the decision is driven by guilt, and that it is her way of self-punishment which she feels she deserves because of her community’s constant shunning.

“In all her intercourse with society, however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it. Every gesture, every word, and even the silence of those with whom she came in contact, implied, and often expressed, that she was banished, and as much alone as if she had inhabited another sphere, or communicated with the common nature by other organs than the rest of human kind” (72).

Through this isolation, she represents the individualistic mindset of Romanticism and embodies the common Romantic “noble savage” or outcast.

The novel further manifested Romanticism through the narrator. A subjective viewpoint is unique to the Romantic literary period. Romantics strived to be the opposite of the members of the Enlightenment, so most chose to write in a subjective manner. Hawthorne accomplished this by including an insightful and opinionated narrator. The narrator frequently favors Hester, and often sympathizing for her. When Hester moves away, the narrator states “It

may seem marvellous, that, with the world before her,—kept by no restrictive clause of her con-

demnation within the limits of the her birthplace, or to any other

Puritan

settlement, so remote and so obscure,—free to return to

European land, and there hide her character and identity under a new exterior, as completely as if emerging into another state of being,—and having also the passes of the dark, inscrutable forest open to her, where the wildness of her nature might assimilate itself with a people whose customs and life were alien from the law that had condemned her,—it may seem marvellous, that this woman should still call that place her home, where, and where only, she must needs be the type of shame” (68).

The narrator is commending Hester for staying in the Puritan colony when she could be far away and not have to endure humiliation or isolation; her guilt is the sole reason she stays. The narrator’s tone throughout the novel expresses sympathy for Hester, Pearl, and Arthur Dimmesdale (Pearl’s father and the man with whom Hester has an affair). “She never battled with the public, but submitted uncomplainingly to its worst usage; she made no claim upon it, in requital for what she suffered; she did not weigh upon its sympathies,” (241). The narrator’s tone suggests sympathy and admiration that Hester suffers in silence and never asks for sympathy or argus with the public. The narrator was conceivably Hawthorne’s voice through the story, adding his own personal opinions and philosophies. He also expressed his opinions through Hester when she contemplated the ideas of the human condition and societal structure. Hester was an independent thinker; she demonstrated her value of education and intelligent thought when the narrator describes her schooling Pearl: “She might, in one of her phases, have been a prophetess...

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But, in the education of her child, the mother’s enthusiasm of thought had something to wreak itself upon.” This could have been Hawthorne’s opinion on the value of education, exhibited by Hester’s decision to put all of her enthusiasm towards Pearl’s education. The opinions expressed through the novel offered an insightful subjective viewpoint that affect the story.

The novel was also affected by Puritanism. Unfortunately for her, Hester lived in a Puritan colony. Puritanism was an extremist movement that started in the sixteenth century. Puritans banned all expression and individuality to become closer to God. They believed that sin spreads throughout the world, and that it should be publicly exposed and punished. This belief defines the entire course of the novel because Hester is not only subject to public exposure on the scaffolding, but also to the humiliation of wearing a scarlet letter “A” on her chest—her public punishment. In some ways, Puritanism influenced American Romanticism. Puritans believed in pantheism, which stated that God is in everything—specifically nature. Romantics greatly valued nature as well and went to it to find answers. Romantics wanted answers to unexplainable things such as magic, evil, and fate. Puritans also wanted these answers so they turned to God, whom they believed to be in nature, so they looked to nature to find the answers to all unknowns. The Scarlet Letter emphasizes nature because it is where Hester and Dimmesdale can speak freely, an important component of the novel. The woods are also said to be the residence of the “Black Man,” a symbol for the devil, which alludes to a supernatural quality unique to Romanticism.

Hawthorne’s opinions about Puritanism are partially revealed in Chapter 21: The New England Holiday. The narrator describes the festivities of the celebration of the new governor as extravagant: “The entire array, moreover, clad in burnished steel, and with plumage nodding over their bright morions, had a brilliancy of effect which no modern display can aspire to equal” (210). This is hypocritical, as the Puritans sought to escape the Elizabethan English customs. Just a few pages earlier, the extravagance of Elizabethan celebrations was mentioned and contrasted with this Puritan celebration: “Here, it is true, were none of the appliances which popular merriment would so readily have found in the England of Elizabeth’s time, or that of James;—no rude shows of a theatrical kind; no minstrel with his harp and legendary ballad, nor gleeman, with an ape dancing to his music; no juggler, with his tricks of mimic witchcraft” (204).

Hawthorne expresses this hypocrisy through these two quotes—he says that the Puritan’s celebration was modest unlike one of England, but in the next scene he demonstrates how it was not, and that it was similar to a celebration of Elizabethan England. This exhibits not only Puritan

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influence on the story but subjectivity as well.

Subjectivity can be found throughout The Scarlet Letter; it allows readers to form opinions easier as well as subjects them to influence from the narrator’s opinions. The narrator obviously did not tell the story objectively and often glazed over details such as the first mention (or in this case the lack of the mention) of the letter “A” on Dimmesdale’s chest. The scar was mentioned but only as a deformation—the details and appearance are not included, such as its shape. It was likely that the narrator would leave out other bits of information to benefit his own opinions. Subjectivity also allowed Hawthorne to express his judgement and dislike for Puritanism. His opinions are found throughout this book whether it be through the narrator, Hester, or the actions of the Puritans.

Isolation, like subjectivity was a common theme throughout Romanticism. Isolation provided a complete opposite to the value of the community and public during the Enlightenment, which Romantics rebelled against.

Hester’s individuality, the narrator’s subjectivity, and Puritan beliefs in society are connected by the ideals of Romanticism that heavily influenced Nathaniel Hawthorne.

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Under the Gaslight: The Orig inal Melodrama

A stereotypical melodramatic scene where the villain ties someone to railroad tracks provides the climax of Under the Gaslight. However, in the nineteenth century when this play was written, it was an original idea. This scene, along with many other themes and ideas in Under the Gaslight, has been replicated and used in many other productions in the past 145 years. The play demonstrates the conflict between good and evil forces, where good is the ultimate victor. This theme is existent in most movies, plays and books; it’s not original to this play but demonstrates how timeless it is. The presence of drastic class conflict in works is not as timeless, but unique to the nineteenth century and still relevant in modern-day US; it is an important part of our history that defines literature and film for during an era. The new approaches to the issues of class and wealth in Under the Gaslight by Augustin provided insightful opinions that continue to hold affect written work. Under the Gaslight is a revolutionary play that continues to influence modern melodramas.

The play is set in 1867 New York City, when it was written, just a few years after the Civil War. The story’s main focus is on Laura Cortlandt, “the Belle of Society” (Daly, 2). Cortlandt is engaged to Capt. Ray Trafford, a wealthy man, “one of New York’s bloods” (Daly, 2). The villain of this play, Byke, claims that Laura is his daughter and was adopted by the wealthy people who accept her as

“the Belle of Society”

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their own. The gossip this creates damages Laura and Ray’s relationship. Humiliated, Laura runs away only to be brought to court where Byke again insisted that she was his daughter. Laura is the victim of most events in the play, including when Byke throws her into the river. Laura survives, but Byke continued to scheme, including his plans to rob the Cortlandt house. Snorkey, a one-armed ex-soldier and the hero of the play, overhears Byke’s diabolical plan. Consequentially, Byke ties him to the railroad tracks.

In the scene concerning train-tracks, evil challenges good and it is unknown which will triumph. This opposition is revealed through symbols such as light and dark. “LAURA: there is a to-morrow. You see it cannot be dark for ever. / PEARL. Hope for to morrow, Ray. / LAURA: We shall have cause to bless it, for it will bring the long sought sunlight of our lives.” (Daly, 60). These are the last lines of the play, where Daly chooses to directly express messages to the audience.

He suggests that things will not be bad forever; tomorrow will herald another day that could potentially hold new opportunities and better circumstances. It is similar to the song from the 1977 musical Annie, “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow.” Under the Gaslight could have influenced the people behind Annie to write the song. Good versus evil is one of the major themes of Under the Gaslight. Throughout the play, good and evil forces test each other; good is ultimately victorious.

Good versus evil is demonstrated through Byke’s attempts and repeated fails at taking Laura and her family’s money. Sometimes, it seems like he could defeat good such as when he throws Laura into the river. Laura swims to shore, back to her family and fiancé, demonstrating that good always overcomes.

In the play, Byke represents the evil in society: the conmen and low-class people. He is looked down upon from the high-class and wealthy families such as Laura, Ray, and their family and friends. Their community rejects anyone of common or lower class, stressing the attainment of wealth and the conflict of classes. When Laura is claimed by Byke to be of a lower class, it poses stress on her relationship with Ray. It would not be acceptable for Ray to be with a woman of a lower class. Laura is victimized because of the rumors and rejected by her own social circle. “MRS. V: Tell it—tell it everywhere, of course. The best blood of New York is insulted by the girl’s presence” (Daly, 17). Mrs. Van Dam is gossiping with Mrs. Earlie, ruining Laura’s reputation.

Daly demonstrates his thoughts on class conflict through the shifting judgments of Laura. She was originally considered a kind young woman engaged to a respectable man, but hen it was suspected that she belonged to another class by blood, all former opinions are disregarded by society and she is rejected. She does change and from the perspective of an outsider, it seems unjust that she would become an outcast of her own social group after being included for her entire life.

The unjustness of her situation could be based on the modern perspective that current audiences have on the play. Class distinction is neither as present nor as sharply defined as it

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was 145 years ago, so the social rejection of Laura could have seemed rational in 1867. The time difference was also evident in many outdated words and phrases used in the play. The word “pshaw” was commonly used as an expression of contempt or impatience. Most of the events or messages in this play seem clichéd, but perhaps that is because they have been overused.

The scene of Snorkey tied down to the railroad tracks was one of the first times that action was included in a play. With this scene alone, Under the Gaslight demonstrates influence on melodramas throughout American history, even currently. It was a revolutionary idea at the time, but is now overdone and overused to the point of being considered hackneyed. The theme that good always triumphs over evil was not an original theme of Daly, but its usage in this play demonstrates the theme’s presence throughout history. Under the Gaslight continues to be produced today, most recently in New York City a few years ago. It is a revolutionary play that continues to affect modern theatre.

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Edgar Allan Poe: Embodiment of Gothic Romanticism

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. His parents, David and Elizabeth Poe were professional actors. They died before he was three, forcing him and his siblings to separate. He was raised as a foster child in Richmond, Virginia by John and Frances Allan. He attended excellent boarding schools throughout high-school and later went to the University of Virginia when he was 17. John Allan sent Poe to college with only a third of the money he needed, so he was forced to drop out in less than a year. Before he dropped out, however, he tried to prevent leaving by gambling which only resulted in more debt. Humiliated, he returned home to find that his relationship with Allan was ruined. He visited his fiancée, Elmira Royster, also only to discover that she had become engaged to someone else. Consequentially, he started drinking which eventually lead to alcoholism. He published his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems, at 18 in 1827.

Shortly afterward, he joined the army where he attained the rank of sergeant major. He returned home in 1829 because Mrs. Allan, Poe’s mother-figure, died. Poe published a poetry collection entitled Al Araaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems before leaving for the United States Military Academy. After only eight months at the academy, Poe was thrown out due to his neglect of his duties, breaking rules, and Allan’s refusal to send him money. He moved to Baltimore, Maryland where he lived with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and her daughter, Virginia, whom he married in 1836; Virginia was only 12 at the time. Poe began to publish short stories, some in magazines, which

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lead to his position as editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond.

Throughout the next decade, Poe’s career as a writer took off. He moved to New York in 1837 only to move to Philadelphia the next year. He edited various literary journals such as Gentleman’s Magazine, Graham’s Magazine, and the Broadway Journal. His constant moving and job-switching was motivated by his poverty; despite his growing fame as a writer, he failed to find high-wage jobs and discovered himself barely able to make a living out of it. He persevered and during this time he published some of his best-known poems and short stories. Virginia died in 1847 from tuberculosis. Poe collapsed from the stress of her death; he recovered later that year only to return to depression and alcoholism. Two years later, he set out for Philadelphia to find work. On his way, Poe stopped in Baltimore for a few days. Soon after his arrival, he was found unconscious in a public house and was rushed to a hospital; he died days later. The cause of his death is unknown, but some theories include alcoholism and rabies.

Edgar Allan Poe’s troubled and depressing life is completely outweighed by his legacy. Poe was one of the first Americans to write and popularize short stories, which he did with a style that continues to influence writers today. His horror works have been featured in many books and have gained recognition and fame. Poe’s disturbing life, with so many of his loved ones dying, lead to a deep emotional and mental disturbance which he translated into his poetry. He was one of the first well-known writers to attempt to have writing as his sole career, which, for him, resulted in financial difficulties and a hard life. His decision to pursue this profession inspired many and revolutionized the literary world so that today writing can be considered a serious profession. Poe’s legacy has had an impact on writing and literature for over 150 years, proving that the hardships he endured through his life were rewarding and are outweighed by his success and achievements.

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"The Raven"

By Edgar Allan Poe 1.

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Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. `’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more.’

7. Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, 8. And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

9. Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow 10. From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore 11. For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore 12. Nameless here for evermore.

39. Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; 40. But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door 41. Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door 42. Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

43. Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, 44. By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore, 45. `Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,’ I said, `art sure no craven.

46. Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore 47. Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!’

48. Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’

13. And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain 14. Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; 15. So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating 16. `’Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door 17. Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; 18. This it is, and nothing more,’

49. Much I marveled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, 50. Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore; 51. For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being 52. Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door 53. Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door, 54. With such name as `Nevermore.’

19. Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, 20. `Sir,’ said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; 21. But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, 22. And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, 23. That I scarce was sure I heard you’ - here I opened wide the door; 24. Darkness there, and nothing more.

55. But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only, 56. That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

57. Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered 58. Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before 59. On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.’

60. Then the bird said, `Nevermore.’

25. Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, 26. Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before; 27. But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token, 28. And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!’

29. This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!’

30. Merely this and nothing more.

61. Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, 62. `Doubtless,’ said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store, 63. Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster 64. Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore 65. Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore 66. Of “Never-nevermore.”’

31. Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, 32. Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.

33. `Surely,’ said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice; 34. Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore 35. Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; 36. ‘Tis the wind and nothing more!’

37. Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, 38. In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.

67. But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling, 68. Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door; 69. Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking 70. Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore 71. What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore 72. Meant in croaking `Nevermore.’

73. This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing 74. To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core; 75. This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining 76. On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated

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o’er, 77. But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er, 78. She shall press, ah, nevermore!

79. Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer 80. Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.

81. `Wretch,’ I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee 82. Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!

83. Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!’

84. Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’

85. `Prophet!’ said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! 86. Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, 87. Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted 88. On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore 89. Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!’

90. Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’

91. `Prophet!’ said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!

92. By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore 93. Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, 94. It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore 95. Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?’

96. Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’

97. `Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!’ I shrieked upstarting 98. `Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!

99. Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!

100. Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!

101. Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!’

102. Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’

103. And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting 104. On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; 105. And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming, 106. And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; 107. And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor 108. Shall be lifted - nevermore!

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"The Raven" Analysis

The Raven has a rhyme scheme of ABCBBB DBEBBB and so on, so that each stanza has six lines where the second, fourth, fifth, and six lines of each stanza rhyme and the first and third lines have various, non-rhyming endings. The fourth and fifth lines of each stanza end with the same word and in some cases, as in stanza three, an entire phrase is repeated: “visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door.” Not only is there end rhyming, but Poe also employs internal rhyming for example in stanza one, the first line includes the words “dreary” and “weary.” Line three includes “napping” and “tapping” which also rhyme with “rapping” in line four and “tapping” in line five. Alliteration is often employed in the poem for example in line 11 “rare and radiant.” In each stanza, the first and third lines have sixteen syllables whereas the second, fourth, and fifth lines have fifteen syllables, which prevents the syllables in those lines from pairing and emphasizes them. The last line of each stanza is the most emphasized, with only seven syllables.

The raven is the central symbol and image in the poem, not considering the title as well.

It is a perfect representation of the gothic sub-genre of Romanticism because of its dark imagery and overall mysteriousness. The raven first appears in the seventh stanza, described as “stately” (line 38), “with mien of lord or lady” (line 40). The speaker speaks to the raven in line 45, referencing a medieval tradition of shaving the heads of cowardly knights. “Thou...art sure no craven” (line 45) the narrator tells the raven, although he says that the raven’s crest is shorn. This reference emphasizes the raven’s association with lords and medieval times. Line 48 is the first time the raven says “nevermore.” This line is repeated many times throughout the poem and is ultimately the turning point. It causes the reader to rethink everything and eventually ruins him.

The raven repeats the word a few times before the speaker listens and takes it seriously, as a prophetic statement. In line 85, the speaker calls the raven a “prophet,” “thing of evil,” and “devil.” He is going mad at this point, listening to the meaningless talk of a bird. In the last three lines of the poem, the raven casts a shadow over the entire room, a metaphor for how the raven’s “prophecy” resulted in depression and darkness for the speaker. The speaker says that his soul will never be lifted, or relieved, from under that darkness and insanity.

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The poem’s focus is the raven but the speaker’s focus and thoughts are always on Lenore; however, not much about her is revealed to the reader. Readers are never informed how she relates to the speaker and she is mostly conveyed as an idea or a memory, not a physical, actual person. In line 83 the speaker wishes to forget her altogether, demonstrating how she is only a memory now. Lines 95 and 95 give actual, direct descriptions of Lenore, providing a glimpse of the woman she was. Lenore represents the ideal woman, referred to as “sainted” (line 94), “rare” (line 95), and “radiant (line 95). His descriptions of her display the power of selective memories and how when someone is gone, he or she is remembered only for the good that he or she did, causing a loved one to miss him or her even more for every little action or speaking he or she used to do. It’s sadly ironic because if the relationship between two people was not good or healthy, the death of one of them would cause the other to regret not making amends before it was too late.

The poem contains many allusions, mostly to Greek and Roman mythology. For example, in lines 47 and 98 “Night’s Plutonian Shore” is mentioned. The night again stresses the darkness that the raven brings, and the physical raven. Darkness is mysterious and a demonstration of gothic Romantic themes; it sets a mysterious atmosphere as well. Plutonian is an adjective form of “Pluto,” the Roman god of the underworld. If something is Plutonian, it is anything and everything associated with the underworld: darkness, death, fear, and horror. The shore is a use of imagery, displaying an infinite ocean of darkness and underworld-like conditions to the reader. The shore could also be interpreted as the Romantic theme of nature, where many would go to find comfort, perhaps used in this poem as irony. Another allusion to mythology can be found in line 82 where the narrator wishes for “respite and nepenthe.” Nepenthe is a mythological medicine that was thought to be able to banish grief from one’s mind. In lines 41 and 104, the raven is seen perched on “Pallas,” the goddess of wisdom. This demonstrates the narrator’s perception of the raven as a prophet, as it sits on the all-seeing, all-wise goddess.

Throughout the poem, the narrator is in a room. The room, before the owl is discovered, was dark, silent, and solitary. This is a metaphor for the narrator’s mind and how he felt about his love dying and leaving him to be alone. The metaphor demonstrates how the mind at a vulnerable stage can create ideas and is unstable overall. Also, it displays the strange feelings one can produce left to his or her own devices. Maybe the raven was not real, but a figment of the narrator’s imagination altogether, further displaying his insanity.

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"Benito Cereno": an Uncertain Address on Slavery

Herman Melville frequently used colors in his work to represent larger ideas. In “Benito Cereno,” he employed the color grey to create the overall confusion of the plot throughout the story. The narrator has no clear understanding of what is happening, often debating various explanations for events, until the very end of the story when another character reveals the truth.

The narrator is Amasa Delano, a sea captain; Delano and his crew are approached by another ship, the San Dominick, in horrible condition; the white sailors and black slaves on the ship beg for supplies. They meet the captain of the ship, Don Benito Cereno, who is always accompanied by his personal slave, Babo. When questioned about the conditions of the ship, Cereno replies that there were storms around Cape Horn. Cereno falls into many fainting spells during his explanation and seems mentally ill. Through his encounters with the crew and slaves of the ship, Delano becomes increasingly suspicious that something is out of the ordinary; he witnesses a slave beating a white crew member, which he dismisses. Near the end of the story, as Delano’s crew dropped supplies of to the San Dominick, Cereno jumps into the other boat.

He reveals that there was a slave rebellion where the slaves overthrew the crew, killed one of the captains, and took control. Babo manipulated Cereno into posing as the authoritative captain throughout Delano’s visit. Babo also launches himself onto Delano’s boat and tries to kill Cereno but Delano’s crew stops him, killing him in the process. Cereno is devastated by Babo’s death and dies a few months later. The story ends with the masthead of the San Dominick re-

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vealed as the skeleton of the other captain, who had died during the rebellion, with the inscription of “follow your leader.” Delano decides that Cereno “did, indeed, follow his leader” (76), but it is unclear whether he meant following the death of the other captain or Babo. Slavery is one of the main focuses of the story, but Melville fails to give a clear opinion on it. An argue could be made for both sides, but the essence is equality; the slaves were able to maintain intelligence and cunning to overthrow a white crew. This, the switching of authority between whites and blacks, causes the gray. Delano assumes that the whites are in power, when the opposite is true.

This confusion in roles is shown when Delano witnesses a slave beating a white crew member, but does not stop to think and realize what was happening. In this there is also a questioning of good and evil, a strong Romantic theme. There is neither a clear answer to whether the slaves are wrong and evil in overthrowing the white crew, nor a hint at what Melville’s opinion is. In “Benito Cereno,” the color grey is used to represent confusion and the constant questioning of morals.

Grey is first introduced as a color, describing the setting of the story.

“Everything was mute and calm; everything grey. The sea, though undulated into long roods of swells, seemed fixed, and was sleeked at the surface like waved lead that has cooled and set in the smelter’s mould. The sky seemed a grey mantle. Flights of troubled grey fowl, kith and kin with flights of troubled grey vapors among which they were mixed, skimmed low and fitfully over the waters, as swallows over meadows before storms” (1).

The repetition of grey in the setting sets the tone as mysterious and eerie. Grey in this passage, on the first page, foreshadows the grey that is to come in the rest of the story. Grey lingers in the reader’s mind and he or she will pick up on it as the story progresses. The description could be considered gothic, a branch of Romanticism that focusses specifically on the grotesque and supernatural. Melville refers to this supernatural with “a white noddy, a strange fowl,” (3) an albatross. The albatross was a nautical symbol in Romanticism, first and most famously used in Rime of the Ancient Mariner. He uses the bird as a warning signal to foreshadow the events that would take place in the ship later in the story. He mentioned an albatross in Moby Dick to emphasize its white color, as he did in this story. The bird serves as an emphasis on the contrast between grey and white, dramatizing the grey.

The color of grey adds a depth to the idea of slavery—whites and blacks. Slavery is often mentioned in “Benito Cereno” but no stance is expressed. It could be argued that he was against slavery since the slaves in his story were intelligent and cunning, opposite to popular belief at the time. However, in the story, the slaves used those qualities to overthrow the white authority when they offered the slaves equality; the captain who was killed allowed the slaves to roam the deck freely without chains which proved to be a bad decision when the slaves took advantage of this and overthrew the crew. The mixing of whites and blacks on board caused a human grey,

mirroring the confusion of authority on the boat. Delano is in a state of uncertainty throughout his time on the San Dominick as to who is in charge. He assumes that the whites are in charge because it is Cereno who greets him and he had no reason to think otherwise as he boarded the ship. He sees evidence of slave control, such as when two slaves push a crew member to the ground. He dismisses these suspicions but becomes increasingly suspicious of Cereno and how he could allow slaves on his ship to abuse white crew members. The modern reader might realize what is happening in the plot before it is revealed, but the reader during the time this was published, in 1855, would have also made excuses to explain why the slaves were behaving in such a way; they would not have thought that slaves were capable of rebellion and clever actions. The story is set in 1799, sixty years before the Civil War. Melville did not know the Civil War would break out soon after his story was published (6 years later) but he knew the tension was rising. On page 1, this increasing conflict is mentioned as a shadow, “foreshadowing deeper shadows to come.” Racism and slavery was an issue then, but it would prove to be increasingly worse in the future.

There is grey in slavery in “Benito Cereno” because of conflicting arguments of who is good and who is evil. This is a common Romantic theme where good was thought to inevitably triumph. It is unclear whether good is victorious in this story because it is unclear who is good.

An argument could be made that the whites were evil, enough to cause a rebellion from the slaves. They had gone to Africa, taken the slaves, and made them work. Melville would have understood the rough conditions of working on a ship because of his first hand experience, so he might have sympathized with the slaves. However, this is modern thought and at the time many readers would have viewed the whites as the victims of the slaves’ evil. There is no proof of the whites’ horrible treatment of the slaves; in fact, there is evidence against it when it is revealed that the slaves were allowed to roam the deck without constraints. The slaves overran the ship and repeatedly threatened and abused the white crew. They were associated with evil throughout the story, as demonstrated when Delano questions Cereno on his depression, “‘What has cast such a shadow upon you?’ ‘The Negro.’” This indirectly blames Babo for Cereno’s death.

The cause of Cereno’s death was depression, caused by unknown reasons. Delano speculates that it could have been Babo’s death that caused it, or maybe all the events that occurred on the ship. The death is grey, uncertain, like the rest of the story. The reader does not know what is truth because of the story is told through Delano’s perspective; it is told in the third-person but that could have arguably made it even harder to distinguish what the truth was. Everything is told in the same manner, so it is hard to differentiate between Delano’s opinions and the objec-

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tive truth. Romanticism is uniquely subjective, and most of the story demonstrates that influence.

As Delano tries to discover not only the mystery of the ship but also the events occurring, the reader is only exposed to his thoughts and understandings at the time, not the truth that happens outside of Delano’s perspective. The reader knows only what he knows, and uncovers the truth as he does, from his view. This could be particularly confusing at times, for example when Delano tried to conjure excuses and explanations for unordinary events on board. The grey expressed here, in plot events, is echoed in the confusion of what Melville’s opinions are. It is difficult to find any opinion on anything, such as slavery, in the text but it is exceedingly more difficult to try to determine if those are Melville’s opinions. Melville’s voice barely shines through his narrator, so it is unclear whether he agrees with what Delano believes or if he is personifying Delano with contradictory opinions.

He expresses some opinion at the end of the book with what seems like his own voice; the message conveyed is confusion.

Melville purposely employed this grey to construct a theme of uncertainty. He wanted to demonstrate the confusion concerning slavery and suggest that there was no clear reaction or solution. He suggested that there was no clear division between evil and good, right and wrong, so slavery would be a tough issue to address; more specifically, he proposed that there is no clear answer to whether slavery is acceptable. His intent was for readers to interpret the text how they wanted to. He provides a sort of resolution at the end of the story, with a new description of the setting from Delano as he attempts to cheer Cereno, who is very depressed from recent events. He says that “past is passed; why moralize upon it? Forget it. See, yon bright sun has forgotten it all, and the blue sea, and the blue sky; these have turned over new leaves.” (75). There is no more grey in the sky or any of the setting, suggesting no more grey as mentioned before. This may lure the reader into a false sense of closure because the grey issues referenced in the story are still unclear; slavery was not resolved in any way but perhaps readers forgot as they read the seemingly bright, resolved existence at the end of the tale. Melville tries to further resolve the story with a trial for Babo, resulting in his death. This attempts to resolve the battle between right and wrong, convicting evil Babo for his actions. These are shallow breakthroughs, perhaps included to emphasize the grey, which is mentioned in the last line when Delano says that Cereno “did, indeed, follow his leader” (76). It is purposely unclear who Delano was referring to when he made this statement—Babo or the other captain. This inscription, “follow your leader,” was under the captain’s bones on the masthead but he is barely mentioned at the end of the story; Babo, however is mentioned in the entire page preceding this statement, where his death and trial are described in detail; specifically, his death is addressed in the paragraph containing the statement. The last

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