The Philosophy of Composition

At the turn of the 19th century, writers and artists in Europe and the United States developed a new orientation that has come to be called Romanticism (c. 1800-1850). They rejected the extreme rationalism and optimism of the Enlightenment (c. 1685-1800), focusing instead on the intricacies of the individual’s subjective and unique consciousness. In literature, writers increasingly explored experiences of isolation and loneliness, reflecting (among other things) disappointment in the failure of the French Revolution and distress at the social disruption brought on by the early Industrial Revolution. Many authors turned away from society and toward nature for solace and inspiration. The mourning student and talking bird in Poe’s poem reflect Romanticism’s interest in idiosyncratic experiences and the personification of nature.

One strand of Romanticism, however, turned away from both science and nature toward the occult and supernatural. Writers such as Poe, William Blake, and Mary Shelley became preoccupied with terror, surprise, bizarre incidents, and aberrant personalities, concentrating on the limits of human understanding and the mysterious and destructive forces (both inside and out) that frustrate hope. This artistic movement is sometimes referred to as Dark Romanticism or Gothic.