Maypole of Merrymount: a Failed Attempt to Escape English Romanticism

35 - 39) only lend credence that his ambitions are in no way self motivated. By the next chapter he is completely consumed by his ambition. He no longer sees the beauties of nature and turns his back on the goodness and purity of life, which is symbolised by nature (and is, like the theme of the individual, an important theme in Romanticism), "My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement" (p. 44) and " The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit... my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature" (p. 45).

This message of universal balance appeals to readers of the Romantic period, because one of the tenets of Romanticism is the belief that there is some element of mysticism or unexplainable natural power holding us all together. Melville’s use of figurative language further accentuates his connection to the romantic period. By utilizing plentiful biblical references, he plays into the spirituality and classicality of the period.

Appeal to emotions, individualism, and intellectual achievement were three important elements of Romanticism. This essay will explore the degree to which Cyrano de Bergerac exemplifies these elements of Romanticism.

The Romantic era, occurring roughly from the early to mid 1800’s, was the period of reformation that shaped the society into one that valued latitude over order; this contrasted from the rigid, legalistic Puritan society that had been prevalent prior to the Romantic era. Through the newfound freedom of expression that was introduced during this period, many literary pieces that reflected these ideas began to surface. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and James Russell Lowell’s The First Snowfall exemplify the romantic element of reverence for nature through the depiction of a placating snowfall and the isolating outskirts of society; these enhance the themes of romanticism by suggesting that reverence for nature may liberate one from his/her nostalgic griefs and suppressed emotions.

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, a new literary genre sprung up, the Gothic story. In the United States, the most prominent exponent of Gothic fiction was Edgar Allen Poe, whose “horror” tales conjure up the dark side that many of us at least half-believe is hidden just beneath the surface of the most conventional lives. In this paper we will discuss the Gothic in light of two of Poe’s stories, “Ligeia”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and contrast Poe’s story with a somewhat dark tale of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, “The Minister’s Black Veil.” We will also analyze why Poe’s stories are Gothic’s and Hawthorne’s is not.

Good or Evil? A major theme of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story The May-Pole of Merry Mount is good verse evil. It is obvious that Hawthorne believes that one colony is good and another evil; however, it is incredibly difficult to determine exactly which colony is evil and which one is good. His description of the colonies and the colonists makes it difficult to determine which colony and lifestyle Hawthorne is in favor of.

Almost all of Hawthorne’s finest stories are remote in time or place. The glare of contemporary reality immobillized his imagination. He required shadows and half-light, and he sought a nervous equilibrium in ambiguity. . . . Where traditional allegory was secured in certitude, however, Hawthorne’s allegorical proceedings yield only restlessness and doubt. The stable system of correspondences that tied allegory’s images and ideas together was

“Ah, but, let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart” (Hawthorne 49). The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of Hester Prynne, a woman living in Boston in the mid 1600s. While Hester's husband is assumed dead at sea, Hester has relations with the town's minister, Dimmesdale. She later has a child named Pearl. The Puritans of the town criticize Hester for committing adultery and make her wear a scarlet letter "A" on her chest as a punishment for her sin.

A sudden hush had fallen on the women, who had been talking, and they had quickened their steps. Nwoye had heard that twins were put in earthenware pots and thrown away in the forest, but he had never yet come across them. A vague chill had descended on him and his head had seemed to swell, like a solitary walker at night who passes an evil spirit on the way.”(61)

There are many different themes that can be used to make a poem both successful and memorable. Such is that of the universal theme of love. This theme can be developed throughout a poem through an authors use of form and content. “She Walks in Beauty,” by George Gordon, Lord Byron, is a poem that contains an intriguing form with captivating content. Lord Byron, a nineteenth-century poet, writes this poem through the use of similes and metaphors to describe a beautiful woman. His patterns and rhyme scheme enthrall the reader into the poem. Another poem with the theme of love is John Keats' “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” meaning “the beautiful lady without mercy.” Keats, another nineteenth-century writer, uses progression and compelling

Lastly, the Romantic Era blended human emotions with nature. The interfacing of emotion and nature was emblematic of Romantic poetry, whether it engrossed the idea of bequeathing human emotions to an innate article like a river or connecting the scenery to the temperament of the writer. (James, 491) This kind of beauty that is

This quote is significant because it portrays the world during that time. It shows how the little light from the lighthouse wasn’t cheerful and how the sun was dim and how the town had an unpleasant feel. Overall it represented the

Several poems in the anthology explore the intensity of human emotion. Explore this theme, referring to these three poems in detail and by referencing at least three other poems from your wider reading.’

Two novelists Emily Bronte and Mary Shelly both depict this in their novels Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein. In the forms of showing the strong emotion of characters and their awe of nature. Bronte especially depicts these natures in her intense but romantic style of writing. In conclusion, Emily Bronte used romanticism to make a more intense impact to the reader and their

He himself had declared it to be a ‘romantic’ genre along with gothic interests and it being a carrier of Puritan History of England. For the obvious reasons this novel deals with issues concerning the times of mid-1850 wherein Hawthorne has juxtaposed “poverty and riches”, “aristocracy and democracy”, “youth with age”, “greed with unselfishness”, “complex with simple”, “appearance with reality”, “pride with humbleness”, “the isolated with un-isolated” (Dillingham, 59) all these parallels are supported by detailed characterizations of almost all main characters in the text. Hawthorne has provisioned and facilitated his characters with an independent backbone with which they support his themes and carry them on their own shoulders. The text in its romantic narrative fashion has been well-crafted to involve various themes which Nathaniel Hawthorne wished to include in this 1851 published Gothic work. It will not be incorrect to put forth the view that Hawthorne’s The House of Seven Gables is a representative of the era and society of that time. He has accurately projected the concerned subjects of that time and how they used to affect the humans of that period. The juxtapositions too are echoes of the society and mirror the basics of whatever contrived into being the fundamentals of that society. Therefore, the themes of this text are majorly colored by the real world of that period and the