Romanticism
Romanticism is a genre used in Europe and later in America but categorized as Southern Gothic Romanticism. Romanticism itself has one sub-genre and that sub-genre is Gothic Romanticism. Romanticism on its own focuses on two types of values: Material values and Emotional values. Both of these values are essential to Romanticism otherwise the stories that are under this genre would not have made any sense. What makes Romanticism unique is that it deals with Human nature, Nature, and the past rather than the future. This genre deals with almost everything you can think of from being in love to politics and music to literature/art work. Romanticism is used by Washington Irving in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and is also shown in "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
Gothic Romanticism
Gothic Romanticism is the sub-genre to Romanticism. Gothic Romanticism has a genre that branches off of it and it is known as Southern Gothic Romanticism. Gothic Romanticism is different from Romanticism because it deals with the supernatural, it is dark and gloomy, and mysterious and deep. The genre itself contains conventions of medieval literature (damsels in distress); grotesque (meaning a character has to show sympathy and disgust at the same time. If the character only shows one of those emotions, then the character is not considered grotesque); mysterious and desolation, as well as tensions between the scientific and the supernatural. Gothic Romanticism may also include: Dreamstates or nightmares, Family secrets, Dark Towers or hidden rooms, or Ancestral Curses. Three authors are known for using Gothic Romanticism: Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Charles Baudelaire.
Southern Gothic Romanticism
Southern Gothic Romanticism is the sub-genre to Gothic Romanticism. What is different about this genre is that it deals with the American South. Supernatural, ironic and unusual events guide the plot lines of this genre. Southern Gothic Romanticism takes a European Romanticism creature (knights or dragons) and turns them into American Southerners (a drunk who is uneducated, a quiet but wise lawyer, or someone who was just released from prison). The most notable feature of the Southern Gothic is the grotesque characterization and something in the town, the house, or the farm is bizarre and often falling apart. Southern can also include freakishness, violence, imprisonment and/or a sense of place. Southern Gothic is used in the stories "A Rose for Emily" and "The Life You Save May Be Your Own". In "A Rose for Emily", the grotesque character would be the entire town because Emily doesn't really do much besides sit in her house and do nothing. The whole town has sympathy for her and will show their disgust when they need to behind her back. In "The Life You Save May Be Your Own", the grotesque character is Mr. Shiftlet because he shows sympathy for Lucynell after he left alone in the café and he shows disgust (a small amount) towards the grandmother because he doesn't like her in the beginning but decides to take her word and marry Lucynell.
No comments:
Post a Comment