Gothic Literature and Dark Romanticism — Flashcards

Grade 11 · English · Flashcards

Key terms and authors for Gothic literature and Dark Romanticism in 11th grade English.

Flashcards

Dark Romanticism: American literary movement rejecting Transcendentalist optimism; focuses on sin, evil, and psychological darkness
Gothic Literature: Genre using dark settings, supernatural elements, and psychological horror to explore death and decay
Unreliable Narrator: A narrator whose mental state or biases compromise the accuracy of their account
Allegory: A narrative in which characters and events represent abstract moral or spiritual concepts
Pathetic Fallacy: Attributing human emotions to nature (stormy weather during conflict, etc.)
The Fantastic: Gothic ambiguity between supernatural and psychological explanation for events
Edgar Allan Poe: Author of Gothic tales like 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and 'The Fall of the House of Usher'; master of psychological horror
Nathaniel Hawthorne: Dark Romantic author; explored Puritan guilt and sin in 'The Scarlet Letter' and 'Young Goodman Brown'
Herman Melville: Dark Romantic author of 'Moby-Dick'; explored obsession and ambiguous evil
Psychological Horror: Terror rooted in the disintegration of the mind rather than external supernatural threats
Symbol: An object or character representing something beyond its literal meaning (e.g., the scarlet letter 'A')
Puritan Legacy: The influence of strict Calvinist morality on American Dark Romantic literature, especially Hawthorne's work