The Fairies
Romanticism
The Romantic era (commonly known as Romanticism) was a movement of literature, art, and philosophy that was first sparked in Europe near the end of 18th century, and spread throughout the world. Romanticism was at its peak from about 1800 to about 1850. This was a reaction and literary evolution from Classicism, which focused on logic and reason when it comes to the connection with nature. Not liking this, "Romantics" adopted liberal and radical spiritual ideas about human-nature connections, saying that emotion and aesthetics were the most important factors in these connections. Great books of this include The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Gothic Romanticism
Gothic Romanticism was a genre that spawned as a result of Romanticism. The origin of this was attributed to Horace Walpole's novel The Castle of Otranto, written in 1764. This had always been present with Romanticism, it just wasn't the main focus until halfway through the 19th century. What spawned from this was great hits such as Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and Bram Stoker's Dracula. And honestly, there's no forgetting the great number of spooky short stories written by NightPain, a.k.a, Edgar Allan Poe.
Southern Gothic Romanticism
And yet, this goes even deeper with Southern Gothic Romanticism. This is a sub-genre of Gothic Romanticism that, as the name suggests, focuses on the south of the United States. This sub-genre however, rather than using irony and grotesque imagery to produce suspense, uses irony and grotesque imagery to explore social conflicts and cultural problems withing the southern U.S. Famous pieces of this genre include the classic by Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird and the novel by Flannery O'Connor The Violent Bear It Away.
Important Fairy Figures
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar (NightPain) was, as is implied, an author that was apart of the Romanticism movement. With such stories as "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "The Black Cat," Poe will forever have his name be worshiped by edgy kids who think killing and pain are the coolest ways of expression ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne3uh0Dv9_c This is pretty spooky, and deals with Edgar Allan Poe
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire was a dirty French fairy poet, essayist, and translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His works such as Les Fluers du mal et Les Paradis artificiels are some of the most famous works of "normal" Romanticism, exploring human connection with nature and the world around humans under certain conditions (see what Les Paradis artificiels is about).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VMFdpdDYYA Remember, Charles Baudelaire wrote paperback novels.
Washington Irving
Washington Irving was, despite not being a name that most think of when they hear spooky and Romantic, the author of the greatest legend that people still enjoy absorbing themselves in around Halloween, that legend being the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow," a.k.a the legend of the Headless Horseman. This story was one of the greatest Romantic pieces of all time.\
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ju8gAE4o4 He is not this Washington Irving, but he is better than this Washington Irving
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was a "normal" Romantic writer, who wrote some of the greatest stories known today, like The Scarlet Letter and "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment." Being a good Christian man, Hawthorne wrote his stories being influenced by Puritan ways of life and features many allegories focused on morality. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9MvUdR6j3w This is a very good clip showing what Nathaniel Hawthorne was all about
Flannery O'Connor
Flannery O'Connor was a relatively present day author in comparisons to other famous Romantic and Gothic authors; however, she did not veer from the road. She wrote "A Good Man is Hard to Find," which explored grace, connectivity with God, the presence of these two subjects in the south, and gave a false sense of optimism, which is a very strong tool in Gothic literature. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqg6RO8c_W0 This video explains that she doesn't use irony correctly in "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Well, not that she doesn't use it correctly, just that it isn't present.
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner, a.k.a Will Faulkner, was a kind of "every-man" that worked in many forms of media, but is most known for his writing. Faulkner was one of the most important writers of literature, mainly Southern literature, despite being unknown until 1949. Like that one Liam Neeson movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-lDfKb2SBA
Wallis Willis
Wallis Willis was a Choctaw freedman who is credited for composing several spirituals, including "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." These songs were very big during the Romanticism era, using the themes of optimism, individualism, and oneness with God. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gryfRoqbu4c Hey look! Beyonce!
Important Terms
Negro Spirituals
Negro spirituals are songs of faith in the lord that the slaves sang to give themselves hope of a better future. The songs were big during the Romantic era, and they were very optimistic.
Call and Response
Call and responses are successions of two phrases, usually done by two different musicians, and the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary on or a response to the first. This is usually done with spirituals.
Verbal Irony
Verbal iron is saying one thing, when you really mean the exact opposite (can be sarcasm, but is not always). This is very prevalent in Gothic stories because it criticizes society by telling it "good job," but really laughing.
Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something, but the characters in a story do not. This is very already a very good device for creating suspense, so using it in a Gothic story, where suspense and spookiness are the goals, is a given.
Situational Irony
Situational irony occurs in the event of the exact opposite of an expectation happening. This is a wonderful tool for throwing an audience off, and in Gothic stories, the unexpected is very thrilling.
Genre
A genre is a category, usually a category of music, literature, or other pieces of art. Gothic is a genre.
Motif
A narrative motif is a recurring element in a story. In Gothic literature, a common motif is suspense.
Theme
This unit has a number of themes, so theme is all matter of interpretation in this situation. The theme I (thanks Ayn Rand) picked is the theme of emotional connectivity with nature. With the definition of nature being "the phenomenon of the natural, physical, and material world, including all life, ranging from the atomic to the cosmic," every story covered in this unit has it. From "A Rose to Emily," where the emotional connection with nature in this story is one of sadness, wonderment, and disgust, to the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," where the emotional connection is one of suspense and fear. Despite giving different emotions, these both give strong emotion in their own right. This is also very common in my life. I often find myself forming a different emotion based on what's happening in the natural world around me everyday, every minute even. And obviously this is very common in the world, with places as beautiful as Niagara Falls and Lake Mapourika giving the emotion of happiness and serenity, while places like Pripyat and the catacombs of Paris give the emotion of sheer terror and panic.
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