Rohit Gondi

Ms. Pritchard
English - 2
10/9/15
Dark Romanticism Literary Analysis
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe both composed several Dark-Romanticism
works including poems and short stories that all include symbols, imagery, figures of speech, in
order to incorporate a theme of sadness. Dark Romanticism authors such as Hawthorne and Poe
all incorporate sadness in several different ways in their works of literature. For example,
Hawthorne includes sadness in both a poem, The Darkend Veil, and a short story, Young
Goodman Brown. Poe also incorporates sadness in a story, The Black Cat.
Nathaniel Hawthorne used many literary devices in his poem The Darken'd Veil in order
to have an overall sad and secretive theme. The major symbolism that Hawthorne uses in this
poem was the veil. He uses the veil to symbolize a type of cover that people use to hide their
sadness and secrets. Oh, could I raise the darken'd veil, which hides my future life from me
(Hawthorne, Darkend Veil). In the poem, Hawthorne states that he is unable to see his future
because of the veil. He is also unable to see the secrets of the world. He uses the veil as a
metaphor for a blanket that hides people's secrets. The main theme of the story is to live a life of
truth, and everything will be clear, and not covered in a Darkend Veil. He is implying that the
people who cover their lives in a darkened veil live a lonely and sad life. Hawthorne
implements similar literary devices in a short story, Young Goodman Brown.

Nathaniel Hawthorne also incorporates sadness in Young Goodman Brown, using

figurative language, imagery, diction, and symbolism. For example, while Hawthorne does show
Faith having pink ribbons in her hat, in order to portray and symbolize her connection with God,
he also portrays the fact that Young Goodman Brown loses the ability to see the good in anyone.
He shows the amount of sadness that Brown is feeling, through vivid imagery. Hawthorne also
uses vivid imagery to describe the area where the meeting took place in which Young Goodman
Brown lost his ability to see good, The mass of foliage that had overgrown the summit of the
rock was all on fire, blazing high into the night and fitfully illuminating the whole field
(Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown). Hawthorne also uses the metaphors to compare the
difference between the meeting that Young Goodman Brown had attended and a normal church,
surrounded by four blazing pines, their tops aflame, their stems untouched, like candles at an
evening meeting (Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown). The overall theme of the story is one of
sadness, with the connections with god, and also the fact that Brown loses his ability to see. Just
like Hawthorne, another author, Edgar Allen Poe, used similar devices in one of his short stories,
The Black Cat.
Edgar Allen Poe uses similar literary devices such as Hawthorne to portray a sad and dark
theme in his story, The Black Cat. The main symbol used in the story was the Black Cat. While
Poe used the Black Cat to portray many different ideas, his main intention was to symbolize the
main characters character. It mostly represented the characters eventual downfall, and growing
level of sadness and insanity, I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped
the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket! I blush, I burn, I
shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity" (Poe, Black Cat). The overall theme of the story was

very sad and dark. Poe incorporated several scenes in which he used vivid imagery to describe
sad and dark actions and thoughts that the main character did/had.
Nathaniel Hawthornes works, Young Goodman Brown and The Darkend Veil, and
Edgar Allen Poes work, the Black Cat, all use similar literary devices including, symbolism,
imagery, and figures of speech, to achieve a sad theme in each story and poem. While each piece
of work told different stories, they all had a common theme, sadness.

Citations
Nathaniel Hawthorne - Poem. "The Darken'D Veil Poem." Poemhunter.com. N.P., n.d. Web. 03
Oct. 2015.
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-darken-d-veil/
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Young Goodman Brown. N.P., n.d. Web. 03
Oct. 2015.
http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/ygb.html
Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Black Cat." Poestories. N.P., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2015.
http://poestories.com/read/blackcat