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Sophia Haynes
Mrs. Pritchard
English II Block 6
8 October 2015
Connections to Dark Romanticism
Dark Romanticism was a period in the nineteenth century where individuals were
interested in exploring the real interworking of the mind. To depict their emotions, they gave it
that mysterious and dark nature. Many writers at the time used different tools to show their
misery, but also to explain the difficulties they went through. Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel
Hawthorne use symbolism and figurative language to portray the sadness, grief, and struggles, all
in which tie into dark romanticism. Although they both use a lot of important dark elements for
their stories, its significant because they both use the effect of guilt and sin to tie into the
psychological effect of the matter. Poe and Hawthorne show that horrors of evil are lurking in
everyone, however sometimes it is worse for others.
By using symbolism and figurative language, Edgar Allan Poe was able to say something
bigger than him. In Alone, he uses items and nature to symbolize the dark parts of him that
always remained. Poe says, From childhoods house I have not been / As others wereI have
not seen / As others sawI could not bring / My passions from a common spring / From the
same source I have not taken (1-5). He uses a childhoods house to symbolize the normality of
children, and it shows that he felt as if he could never belong anywhere because of his
differences and uniqueness. He couldnt see the views and outlooks of others, and that caused
him to question everything about himself. Humans tend to compare themselves to surrounding
people, and it makes people question their abilities, actions, and traits. He then says, And the

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cloud that took the form / When the rest of Heaven was blue / Of a demon in my view" (2022). He uses the color blue to represent the similarity and ordinariness of everybody, but also to
display happiness in comparison to his gray cloud. The cloud symbolizes his train of thought,
how he is, and who he is. The demon could represent his connection with darkness, or him and
how he interprets his being. Poe also uses figurative language to show his grief in another
direction. He says, My sorrowI could not awaken (6). His sadness was something he felt as
permanent, and rather continuous. He compares his sorrow to sleeping, and his sorrow is
personifying as an animate object. He uses diction like sorrow, storm, and mystery to give it a
cryptic, shadowy approach.
In The Haunted Mind, Hawthorne uses items to symbolize the darkness that controls
and stays within him, but also uses figurative language to portray emotions as people. He says,
In the depths of every heart, there is a tomb and a dungeon, though the lights, the music, and
revelry above may cause us to forget their existence, and the buried ones, or prisoners, whom
they hide. But sometimes, and oftenest at midnight, those dark receptacles are flung wide open
(Hawthorne 2). He is saying that everyone has their battles and demons, and although people can
be easily distracted, the demons are still there and they still haunt. Although people tend to forget
them, the night and darkness cause individuals to remember those inner thoughts chosen to be
pushed aside, even though they can never be forgotten. Nobody has control of his or her feelings
and contemplations, and it causes people to feel trapped with no escape whatsoever. Hawthorne
also corporates figurative language by using certain emotions as people, for example, Passion.
He says:
A funeral train comes gliding by your bed, in which Passion and Feeling assume
bodily shape, and things of the mind become dim spectres to the eye. There is

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your earliest Sorrow, a pale young mourner, wearing a sisters likeness to first
love, sadly beautiful, with a hallowed sweetness in her melancholy features, and
grace in the flow of her sable robe. Next appears a shade of ruined loveliness,
with dust among her hair and her bright garments all faded and defaced, stealing
from your glance with drooping head, as fearful of reproach; she was your fondest
Hope, but a delusive one; so call her Disappointment now. A sterner form
succeeds, with a brow of wrinkles, a look and gesture of iron authority; there is no
name for him unless it be Fatality, an emblem of the evil (Hawthorne 2).
This gutting feeling starts to form in the stomach while all of the feelings become real.
He describes all of his emotions as actual people, along with their actions towards that sentiment
and the characteristics, which tie into the evident feeling. Sorrow is described as a griever, and
once another girl by the name of Hope has done something wrong, she is now called
Disappointment, for her simple actions can only lead to her reputation. Fatality is a man who
succumbed to the temptations of evil, and for that, the guilt took over his body and killed him.
The direction that he took in this specific quotation shows that he felt as if each one of these
emotions had certain characteristics and actions. However, he doesnt explain it in just a casual
manner, but instead brings a deeper meaning into what each of these feelings is really about.
In The Ministers Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he uses symbols and figurative
language to preserve the secret behind the black veil. Hawthorne uses the black veil as a symbol
to his mystery, and something that explores the dark parts that lie deep in Mr. Hooper, a side
nobody had seen before. He says, All though life that piece of crape had hung between him and
the world; it separated him from cheerful brotherhood and womans love, and kept him in the
saddest of all prisons, his own heart; and still it lay upon his face, as if to deepen the gloom of his

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darksome chamber, and shade him from the sunshine of eternity (Hawthorne 11). The black veil
separated him from the world and the people that he loved, but also kept him locked and trapped
in the worst prison of all which was his mind and heart. The black veil disconnected him from
his eternal happiness. Hawthorne then uses figurative language to compare a cloud to the veil
and sun to his eyes. Mr. Hoopers wife goes on to say, Come, good sir, let the sun shine from
behind the cloud (Hawthorne 7). She wants him to unveil the mask, or figuratively, the
darkness. The black veil represents separation and sin. Because of the veil, it separated and
terrified his loved ones, which usually resulted to them leaving him. Hooper also says that he
will wear the black veil until eternity, and then when he gets to heaven, the veil will be
uncovered, and hell be able to see the sunshine. Hell finally be free of the sin, the guilt, the
sadness and the grief that he felt as a mortal being.
All in all, each of these works ties into dark romanticism because they each give life a
dull, deeper meaning. Many writers told stories and wrote poems in shadowy approaches instead
of casually trying to tell the story. By using symbolism and figurative language, they were able to
portray their sorrow and wretchedness to the reader, and because of that, one could feel the
emotions behind the simple words on a page. Each faced mental issues, and used dark symbols
and figures of speech to show that horror.

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Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Haunted Mind." 1837. Twice-Told Tales. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag.
Eldritch Press. Web. 9 Oct. 2015. <http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/hmind.html>.
- - -. "The Minister's Black Veil." 1837. Twice-Told Tales. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Eldritch Press.
Web. 9 Oct. 2015. <http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/mbv.html>.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "Alone." 1829. Alone. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Poetry Foundation. Web. 9 Oct.
2015. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175776>.