Monday, April 11, 2011

Is Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" considered part of transcendentalism?

Lets first define.  Romanticism focused on the imagination, human spirit, an idealization of nature, and emotional freedom.  Transcendentalism was characterized by a belief that emotion, as opposed to reason and logic, could help transcend the human beyond a merely physical existence; it also emphasized the belief that humanity was essentially good.  Dark Romanticism grew out of both movements and showed the style of Romanticism with the spiritual expression of transcendentalism, but showed a strong belief that man was flawed by faulth and sin. 

"Fall of the House of Usher" represents Dark Romanticism at its core.  It has the symbolicm representation of nature in the description of the house and the storm.  The natural elements are intertwined with the narrator, who has "sympathetic vibrations".  He is so in tune with humanity and nature that he withdraws himself from both, claiming to suffer from "nervous exhaustion."  He gets beyond these instinctual reactions, however, choosing to try to explain them through intellectual pursuits.  Contrarily, however, he refuses to allow science to examine the condition and "death" of his sister, believing that science is flawed.  In truth, however, it is both he and his sister who are flawed, who suffer from insanity that is the result of intermarriage.  The story is related to trancendentalism in the fact that trancendentalism has influenced dark romanticism.

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