Dark Romanticism Vs Transcendentalism Essay

In the 18th century a major writing style was the Romantic period. The two main styles of thinking throughout that period were Transcendentalist and Dark Romantics. Transcendentalist writers believed that there was a direct connection between the world and the inner self. Dark Romantics had some completely different beliefs. They looked into the difference between good and evil, the psyche, and the effects of supernaturals. On the surface they seem like polar opposites, but they have some very similar views. Although the Transcendentalists and Dark Romantics seem to have very different views of the world, their writing styles are similar in how their characters trust themselves, their views on the character's intuition, and on how nature has an effect on man which force the reader to apply those qualities to themself.
Transcendentalist and Dark Romantics have very similar writing styles in the way they describe how

Dark Romantics choose to write about how the main character knows the difference between right and wrong but still chooses to do the wrong thing. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe writes that the main character, “loved the old man” (“The Tell-Tale Heart” 189). He or she had nothing against the man other than that he did not like his eye and that was his motive to kill the old man. Transcendentalist also believed that men should follow their intuition even if it deviated from the social norm, but they also saw people as inherently good. Emerson believed that man should learn how to, “watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages” (“Self-Reliance” 1). He believed that people should follow their own dreams and thoughts rather than people like poets or wisemen. Transcendentalist and Dark Romantics most often talk about a character’s intuition whether or not it is