The Dark Romantics:
Anti-Transcendentalists
Name: ________________________________
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Key Traits of Anti-Transcendentalism
DIRECTIONS: Consider the main traits of Transcendentalism. Use them to make predictions about what
MAY be key traits of Anti-Transcendentalism, a reactionary movement.
Transcendental Trait
Anti-Transcendental Prediction
Actual Trait
Innate wisdom (Intuition)
Human potential (Optimism)
Eternal One
Non-conformity
Truth through observation
Respect for nature
Social Reform
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The Dark Romantics in American Literature
Heather Carroll
Education Portal
American Renaissance
The American Renaissance in literature is actually a very specific part of the larger literary
period, the American Romantic period. The Romantic period, which lasted roughly from 18001860, experienced an explosion of uniquely American literature near the end of the time period.
This surge of American literary masterpieces from 1840-1860 is known as the American
Renaissance.
During the American Renaissance, writers could generally be placed into one of two subgenres,
or categories: the Dark Romantics and the Transcendentalists. In this video, we're going to
look at the Dark Romantics.
To begin, it's best to explain that Dark
Romantic doesn't mean darkly
romantic, so we're NOT thinking of a
50 Shades of Grey type-thing (I'm sorry
to disappoint you) - though both are
exploring the inner workings of the
mind. Instead, we are talking about a
subgenre of writing that took a
shadowy approach to the fantastical.
Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville were key Dark
Romantic writers
The Romantic writers took an
optimistic approach to the mystical
aspects of the universe where sins are properly punished and those who are truly good are
rewarded. For example, in Washington Irving's 'The Devil and Tom Walker,' Tom Walker is
punished for his greed. It's a moral tale to warn against hypocrisy and evil. On the other hand, the
Dark Romantics, like Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville,
sometimes called Gothic, were more serious and found the darkness and evil in those same
aspects, with evil taking over the good. As a result, their writing typically has the following
characteristics:
1. Lots of creepy symbols
2. Horrific themes
3. Psychological effects of guilt and sin
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Symbols
A symbol is something that represents something else. A red rose, for example, is a common
symbol for love, romance, passion, and vitality. But if we change the color of the rose to black, it
becomes a symbol of something more sinister - death, loss, and possibly evil. Authors use
symbols to help readers make connections beyond the story itself. Sometimes objects in a story
are symbols. Sometimes characters are symbols.
Most people are familiar with Edgar Allan Poe's poem 'The Raven,' which is a Dark Romantic
piece of writing that is still popular today (even the The Simpsons have their own version). In
that poem, the raven is a symbol for death and hopelessness as it sits and watches the narrator,
who is slowly going mad. Poe could have chosen any bird, but he chose a bird who is known for
hanging out at battlefields and picking away at the dead. These connections through the use of
symbols are intentionally made by the author and reinforce the overall meaning of the story. For
the Dark Romantics, sin and evil were everywhere, so their symbols often represent evil entities,
like devils or spirits. These symbols often reinforce one of many horrific themes found in the
story.
Horrific Themes
A story's theme is a statement that
the text seems to making about the
subject and for the Dark Romantics,
this statement was drenched in
terrifying ideas. In some cases, they
studied the struggles of human
nature. More specifically, they
believed that human nature was less
The Dark Romantics used evil beings as symbols for sin
than good, so evil was able to take
hold of a person. Like the Puritans before them, they believed evil and sin were everywhere, but
it was not as easy to identify, so it could easily lead to self-destruction.
It was not just human nature that harbored evil, though; the Dark Romantics also saw darkness in
the external world. The idea that our surroundings could be filled with evil fueled much of
their writing, encouraging readers to question everything around them. Edgar Allan Poe, a
famous Dark Romantic writer, encompasses this theme in his short story 'The Fall of the House
of Usher.' As despair takes over the home, it deteriorates and finally collapses.
Of course, like many stories, the Dark Romantics knew that good was always battling evil, but
unlike your typical super-hero movie, evil usually won out. But it wasn't simply the presence of
evil that fueled the Dark Romantics' writing. They wanted to explore the horrors of evil that
were lurking in everyone. This meant that they spent a good deal of time looking at the
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character's thought processes. It's not enough to see the character's actions; we need to see his or
her reasons for committing those actions in the first place. Poe wrote another story called 'The
Tell-Tale Heart' that follows a murderer's increased paranoia after hiding a dismembered body
under the floorboards.
If you put all of these components together, you end up with more than your run-of-the-mill
horror story. These stories are more like the movies Black Swan and American Psycho that
follow the stream of consciousness deterioration of the mind than say, Scream and Saw which
focus on actions. These writers want to know 'why' rather than 'how', so they focus on the
psychological, or how the mind works.
Psychological Effects of
Guilt And Sin
With all these horrific undertones and
creepy symbols, it shouldn't be a surprise
then that the characters in these stories
are not your average storybook heroes.
Mostly, though not always, Dark
Romantic writers want to explore the
The Scarlet Letter focuses on the psychological
psychological effects of guilt and sin, so
repercussions of sin and guilt
we see characters who are harboring guilt
for their sins, and that guilt leads to the grotesque, the fantastic, or the morbid. In other words,
these characters are often deranged or go mad. It also means that the reader is often stuck in the
character's mind, watching as it slowly deteriorates into that madness. Nathaniel Hawthorne
illustrates this concept in his novel The Scarlet Letter. He tells the story of a minister whose
affair with a married woman sends him into a guilt-ridden self-punishment, and ultimately death.
Lesson Summary
So, to sum up, the American Romantic period had an explosion of uniquely American literature
at the end of the era, from about 1840-1860. During this time, the subgenre of Dark Romantic
writers, including Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, used creepy symbols and
horrific themes to look at the inner-workings of the mind and to explore the psychological effects
of guilt and sin. The result is a collection of short stories, poems, and novels that forced
Americans to see that evil was lurking in us all.
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Take notes on the following topics while watching the brief video.
American Renaissance
Symbols
Horrific Themes
Psychological Effects of Guilt And Sin
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Complete the following outline during class discussion.
Anti – transcendentalism

Definition:

When:
Reasons / Causes



Literary works


Key Ideas / Philosophies




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View of nature


Writing style





______________________________________________________________________________
PRE – READING FOR: THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER – by Washington Irving
YES
NO
STATEMENT
1. There is a devil who tries to trick people.
2. Money is the #1 goal for most people today.
3. Integrity is more important than money.
4. When you marry, what is yours should become your
spouse’s and vice versa.
5. It is okay to lie to your spouse if the lie will not hurt
them.
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The Devil and Tom Walker
Name: ___________________
Washington Irving
Pd: ______________________
Folk Tale




Characters typify (exaggerate) certain human motivation / behavior
Events are based on legend or hearsay (as opposed to history)
Humorous tone, yet serious message(s) about human values is conveyed
Mixture of realistic detail and elements of the supernatural
Satire: A type of writing that ridicules various people, institutions, groups or humanity in order
to set a moral standard for society
Stock characters: Fictional characters that are based on common literary or social stereotypes.
Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manners or speech.
They are often used in satire and parody.
Directions: Complete this worksheet WHILE you read. (Pages 202-213)
1. Where does the story take place?
2. Why was the inlet a good place for Kidd the pirate to hide his money?
3. Who guards the buried money?
4. Why does Kidd never return for his treasure?
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5. What kind of people are the Walkers? Give an example which demonstrates their mindset
on money.
6. Do the conflicts between Tom and his wife ever get physical? How do you know?
7. Why does Tom end up in the swamp? Where had he been?
8. What structure does Tom notice in the woods? What had it once been used for?
9. What does Tom discover in the ground while resting?
10. Describe in detail the appearance of the man Tom meets.
11. What is carved on many of the trees in the forest? What does this represent?
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12. List at least 3 names by which the “black man” refers to himself.
13. Why does the author say Tom was not afraid of this man?
14. What deal does the devil propose? Surmise/take a guess at the conditions.
15. How does the man prove he is the devil?
16. What news does Tom receive when he returns home? Why is this ironic?
17. What do Tom and his wife argue about? What does she decide to do as a result?
18. List the possible explanations for Mrs. Walker’s disappearance.
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19. When Tom reaches the swamp what does he realize must have happened? Why? How
does he feel towards the devil?
20. What deal do the devil and Tom Walker make? What job must Tom take?
21. Why did so many people need money in Boston? What fever had struck?
22. Why does Tom decide to become a churchgoer? What is he trying to do?
23. Dramatic Irony is a literary device whereby a character inadvertently speaks the truth,
foreshadowing tragic events of which he is unaware. Find the sentence in the conclusion
of the tale where Tom makes this kind of ironic statement.
24. What do people say happened to Tom Walker? What became of all of his money?
25. Some tales about pacts with the devil end tragically for their heroes, illustrating the moral that
one should never sell one’s soul. Explain the moral (theme or main message) of this tale.
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Elements of Satire in The Devil and Tom Walker
For each of the satirized elements, please complete the following:
 Explain how it is satirized
 Provide a piece of textual evidence from the story to support your idea
Marriage
Usury and the slave trade
Religion
Imagery: Record the details of the Woodsman in the following two categories.
Woodsman as the Devil
Woodsman as the common hunter
What message is Irving sending through this imagery?
Imagery: Record the details of the men whose names are seen on the trees.

Attributes of the “great trees”

Deacon Peabody and Crowninshield

How does this foreshadow Tom’s demise?
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Name: _________________________________________________
Washington Irving
Writing a Thesis
REMEMBER THIS FROM THE INTRODUCTORY NOTES?
Key Topic: The Past
 Sparked by a new interest in American history
 Some authors draw on American legend and folklore
 Others dramatize the Revolution, conflicts with the Native Americans, etc.
DIRECTIONS: As we read this critical article by Charles Zug, please keep in mind the information
above. While you are reading try to determine Mr. Zug’s thesis; what is the statement he is trying to
prove in his article?
NOTES: (As you read write down any information you did not know about Irving or about the story “The
Devil and Tom Walker”; highlight key ideas and points).
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The Construction of The Devil and Tom Walker: A Study of Irving's Later Use of Folklore
Zug, Charles G., III. "The Construction of The Devil and Tom Walker: A Study of Irving's Later Use of
Folklore."
[In the following essay, Zug talks about the aspects of common folklore that Irving incorporated into "The
Devil and Tom Walker," particularly those he gathered in his travels to Germany. ]
Although it is unquestionably one of Washington Irving's finest tales, "The Devil and Tom Walker" has
never attracted much critical attention. First published in 1824 in Part IV of Tales of a Traveller, the tale
recounts the fate of an avaricious New Englander, who sells his soul to the Devil in return for Captain
Kidd's treasure, and is finally carted off to Hell after a long and profitable career as a usurer in colonial
Boston. For the most part, critics have been content to note that the tale is "a sort of comic New England
Faust," or that it "is redolent of the American soil." In other words, the consensus is that the tale has
certain Germanic overtones but is indigenous to the young American republic in which Irving grew up.
No one, however, has really attempted to examine the possible sources for this work or note the complex
manner in which Irving has interwoven numerous motifs from American and German folklore....
At the outset, it is significant that no source has ever been discovered for "The Devil and Tom Walker."
Most commonly, critics cite the Faust theme as the basis for the tale, but this is rather inaccurate, for Tom
Walker is in no sense a scholar who desires to extend the limits of human knowledge. In actuality, it is
not the Faust theme but the well-known motif M211, Man sells soul to devil, that lies at the heart of the
tale. This, however, is only one of numerous folk motifs used, and taken by itself, it provides little insight
into the source or structure of the tale. The problem here is that unlike "Rip Van Winkle" which is largely
patterned on a complete tale, "The Devil and Tom Walker" is based on a series of folk motifs gathered by
Irving from a wide variety of sources. It is important at this point to understand the exact distinction
between a tale and a motif. The former is a complete and independent narrative which consists of one or
more motifs traditionally associated with each other, while the latter is "the smallest element in a tale
having a power to persist in tradition." Generally, motifs fall into one of three categories: "the actors in a
tale," "items in the background of the action," and most commonly, "single incidents." Although based on
folklore like "Rip Van Winkle," "The Devil and Tom Walker" is thus a much more complex and original
work, for instead of starting with a fully developed plot, Irving began with a series of plot elements and
fused them into a new and harmonious whole. That he was highly skilled in assembling these traditional
motifs is evidenced by the number of critics who have accepted "The Devil and Tom Walker" as a
rewritten version of a folktale that he had heard or read.
To fully understand Irving's increasingly sophisticated use of folklore, it is necessary to briefly consider
some of Irving's activities between the publication of The Sketchbook in 1819 and the writing of "The
Devil and Tom Walker" in 1824. The key event here appears to have been the year-long tour through
Germany in 1822 and 1823. Prior to this journey, Irving had shown an increasing interest in German lore
and literature, and had been encouraged by Sir Walter Scott "to study the fascinating history of folklore."
However, Irving's contact with German folklore at this time was limited to the few works over which he
struggled to learn the German language and a number of English publications which were "Translated or
adapted from the popular literature of Germany." The trip to Germany in 1822 gave Irving a new
opportunity: a chance to investigate and gather up German folklore at first-hand. As he wrote to Thomas
Storrow at the beginning of the tour, "I mean to get into the confidence of every old woman I meet with in
Germany and get from her, her wonderful budget of stories." In other words, Irving was out to collect
folklore in its purest state, directly from oral transmission. Stanley Williams notes this shift in Irving's
attitude, commenting that "he now formed a resolution that folklore should not merely entertain the
15
knight-errant but should earn his lordship's bread and butter. He would really follow that impulse felt at
Abbotsford in 1817 and create his volume of German legends. The tour now became a hunt for gnomes,
pixies, and phantom armies; and he extended the journal into a saving bank for this species of coin." That
the hunt was clearly successful is revealed by the numerous legends and scraps of lore that may be found
in the letters and journals written during the German tour. At Salzburg, for example, Irving noted that "the
mountain regions are full of fable and elfin story, and I had some wonderful tales told me." In his journal,
he even wrote out seven local legends from this region, all of them concerned with the imposing figure of
Untersberg Mountain. Walter Reichart points out that none of these legends appears to have a literary
source, "so that it seems likely that Irving actually heard them from some of the inhabitants." Since Irving
had little time or ability for reading German during his travels, this conclusion is almost inescapable. In
addition, the letters and journals abound with fragments of and brief references to well-known tales and
motifs, such as "the Emperor and his army shut up in the enchanted mountain" and "the Black Huntsman
and the enchanted Bullets." Altogether, it appears that Irving rapidly enlarged his working knowledge of
German folklore, and there are numerous entries indicating that he also enjoyed retelling the tales to his
friends. The German experience thus served not only to increase his "savings bank" of potential source
materials, but more important, to teach him the technique of combining and recombining these materials
so as to form new tales. It is exactly this shift in emphasis, from written to oral sources, from the tale to
the motif, and from the mere materials to the actual mechanics of folklore, that is reflected in "The Devil
and Tom Walker" . As such, this tale suggests that a re-evaluation of Irving's later use of folklore is very
much needed. As the following analysis reveals, Irving's use of folklore after his German tour was
somewhat less "slavish" than most critics have been willing to admit....
Irving certainly never intended "The Devil and Tom Walker" to be taken as a folktale. His purpose was to
produce an entertaining, fast-moving story based largely on German folk motifs and firmly rooted in an
American locale.
In conjunction with the prevalence of German motifs, it is important to note that practically the entire plot
is made up of elements from folklore. In fact the only nontraditional portions of the plot are the two
sections which I have labeled the domestic and financial subplots. The tale opens with three American
motifs built around the legend of Captain Kidd. Immediately following is the domestic subplot, which is
reminiscent of the marital situation in "Rip Van Winkle" and serves to develop the mutual enmity
between Tom and his wife. Merely to infuriate her, Tom obstinately refuses to close his pact with the
Devil. She, therefore, runs off with the family silverware to make her own bargain, and is apparently
carried off by the Devil after an heroic struggle. After this humorous interlude, Irving immediately returns
to the main plot of folk motifs, and it is not until after the pact is actually completed that he inserts the
financial subplot. This section describes the state of affairs in colonial Boston, neatly delineating the
avarice and religious hypocrisy of the inhabitants. With the uttering of the oath, Irving again returns to the
main plot, and the tale moves swiftly to a close. Taken as a whole, the plot thus consists of a central chain
of folk motifs into which two realistic subplots have been inserted....
Irving's choice of the Kidd legends as a framework for "The Devil and Tom Walker" was a good one, for
it placed the tale in a distinctly American setting. Willard Hallam Bonner, who has made an extensive
study of Kidd, notes that "the composite legend surrounding him is Saxon North America's first fullbodied legend." However, this legend is a limited one, in that it generally contains only a few, often
recurring motifs. There is first a widespread belief that Kidd did bury his treasure, either along the
southern New England coast or up the Hudson River. In addition, there is the belief that the treasure is
guarded either by a slain sailor or worse, by "the Earl of Hell himself, at whose command Kidd `buried
his Bible in the sand.'" As noted in the earlier plot outline, Irving used these American motifs at the
beginning of the tale, although he shifted the place of burial to the Boston region. With the introduction of
the domestic subplot, which follows immediately, Irving moved away from the Kidd legends and began
16
using German motifs which concerned the Devil. Apparently it was the Kidd stories heard from Colonel
Aspinwall that gave Irving the initial inspiration and got the tale underway. Once started, Irving inserted
the two realistic subplots and used the figure of the Devil, first mentioned in the American legend, as the
means of transition to the numerous German materials....
Irving certainly never intended "The Devil and Tom Walker" to be taken as a folktale. His purpose was to
produce an entertaining, fast-moving story based largely on German folk motifs and firmly rooted in an
American locale. In this he was eminently successful, and"The Devil and Tom Walker" deserves to be
ranked with "Rip Van Winkle"and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" as one of his best tales. Stanley
Williams has pointed out that the major flaw in Tales of a Traveller was Irving's failure "to draw bravely
from that wonderful stock of German legend in his notebooks and in his mind." While this analysis is true
for most of these tales, it is clearly not applicable to "The Devil and Tom Walker", where the carefully
assembled chain of German motifs provides the backbone for a unique and vigorous plot structure. Still a
second valid criticism of the Tales of a Traveller is that Irving did not succeed "in transplanting German
legends into American settings where the native landscape could reflect the spirit of the tale." Once again,
"The Devil and Tom Walker" proves the exception, for Irving skillfully introduced the German materials
through the use of the native Kidd legends, using the figure of the Devil as the unifying force for all of the
motifs. By adding the two realistic subplots, a few brief character sketches, and some local history and
legend, Irving succeeded in developing a truly American atmosphere. As William L. Hedge has observed,
Irving was able "to bring certain aspects of Puritanism into dramatic focus by connecting Yankee
shrewdness and Puritan respectability." As previously noted, this satire on the avarice and hypocrisy of
colonial Boston is skillfully integrated with the folklore Irving used, and the final motif, Devil's money
becomes ashes, is so well chosen that it serves as a fitting epilogue to the tale.
Once the construction of "The Devil and Tom Walker" is laid bare, it becomes evident that Irving, at least
after his German tour, was no "slavish" imitator but rather a highly skilled manipulator of both American
and German folklore. In avoiding the stock Gothic machinery and a distant, foreign setting for an
American locale, and in assembling a chain of folk motifs that was distinctly his own invention, he
created a vigorous tale that is still very much alive and meaningful today. This is not to assert that Irving
possessed a first-rank imagination, as his successors Poe and Hawthorne did. Instead, as his contemporary
Coleridge might have observed, Irving was endowed with a mechanical rather than an organic
imagination. In this sense, he is not unlike the medieval French author Chrétien de Troyes, who drew so
heavily on traditional materials yet left his own stamp on them. Like Chrétien, Irving knew and
understood the traditional storyteller's skill in relating folk motifs and so, in tales such as "The Devil and
Tom Walker", he was able to recombine and reshape such motifs into new and significant forms.
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The Minister’s Black Veil (pages 266-275 in textbook)
By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Background:
Seventeenth-century Puritan New England, the setting of “The Minister’s Black Veil,” was
steeped as much in superstition as religion – as you may remember from reading “The Crucible”
earlier this year. To review, Puritans believed God was all-powerful and all-knowing. Their
Theocratic society – a combination of laws based on The Bible and English law – perpetuated
the idea that people were sinful by nature and deserved eternal punishment, but God “elected”
some to be saved. In order to do this, Puritans tried to lead moral lives as a sign of being saved.
Of course, this required people to keep a constant watch over themselves and others in order to
fight the “natural tendency” to sin.
Literary Terms:
Parable – The subtitle of “The Minister’s Black Veil” is “A Parable.” A parable is a story that
illustrates a moral lesson. In this way, parables resemble fables. Fables, however, usually have
animal characters, whereas parables have human characters. Many famous parables appear in the
Bible. The parable of the prodigal son, for example, teaches that one who turns away from evil
should be forgiven. Hawthorne included the subtitle “A Parable” to alert his readers that he
intended “The Minister’s Black Veil” to convey a moral lesson.
Symbolism: Define the following term and as you read, record what the black veil
symbolizes.
Vocabulary: Define the following terms before you read.
Perturbation
Venerable
Iniquity
Sagacious
Irreproachable
Zealous
Torpor
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1) How does Hawthorne describe the veil?
2) How do the parishioners (people who are part of the church congregation) react (record
4) to the veil? Why do you think it affects them that way?
Why?
3) What is the significance of the topic of the first sermon? What do you think is the
connection between the veil and the congregation’s interpretation of Mr. Hooper’s
sermon? Explain.


4) Why does the veil become an appropriate symbol in the afternoon service? What does
one young woman “fancy” she sees?


5) Describe the impact of the minister’s veil on the wedding. Describe his exit from the
service. Why might he respond like this?
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6) Why might Elizabeth react as she does when Mr. Hooper refuses to remove the veil for
her? How does this show her feelings for him?


7) How does the world outside the town react to the veil? How does this impact Hooper?


8) What do Father Hooper's final words disclose about his possible reasoning for wearing
the veil?
9) Why do you think Hawthorne chose not to explain why Mr. Hooper wears the veil? How does
this secret contribute to the story?


10) Ultimately, what is the one desirable effect of the black veil?
11) Finally, what message or moral lesson is Hawthorne sending in this parable? Cite a
specific example from the story to support your position.
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Message / Moral Lesson:
Textual Evidence:
Explanation:
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“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
1. How does the setting add to the meaning of the story: sunset and night, dreary road, gloomy trees,
etc? How does this imagery create the mood? How does this mood help us predict the nature of
Young Goodman Brown’s journey?
2. Why do you think Faith wore pink ribbons? What is the connotation of this color? (Use a
dictionary if needed).
3. Discuss the significance of the second traveler: “. . . [A man appeared] bearing a considerable
resemblance to him, though perhaps more in expression than features. Still they might have been
taken for father and son.” Is he Brown’s alter ego? (You may need to define this term first).
4. Interpret the description of the staff: “which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously
wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle like a living serpent. This, of course,
must have been an ocular deception, assisted by the uncertain light.” What allusion is perhaps
made here?
5. The fellow traveler states his knowledge of many members of Brown’s family as well as many
important people from the town. What statement then is Hawthorne making about evil?
6. Discuss the meaning of the encounter with Goody Cloyse. “ . . . and in the very image of my old
gossip, Goodman Brown, the grandfather of the silly fellow that now is.”
22
7. After Goodman Brown refuses to go any farther, the traveler throws him the maple stick and
leaves. Discuss Good Brown’s attitude and conscience.
8. After the minister and Deacon Goodkin ride by, what happens with Goodman Brown? Why is
this significant?
9. What does the black mass of the cloud symbolize – the confused and doubtful sound of voices?
10. Discuss the meaning(s): “My Faith is gone!”
11. Describe what Goodman Brown saw when he arrived at the meeting – the grave, reputable, and
pious people, the chaste dames and dewy virgins, the revered pastor, and that the good “shrank
not from the wicked”. Discuss the meaning.
12. The dark figure states, “Welcome, my children, to the communion of your race. Ye have found
thus young your nature and your destiny.” Discuss.
13. How does Goodman Brown treat people the next day? What happens to him? Why?
14. “Young Goodman Brown” is a moral allegory. Essentially, an allegory is an extended metaphor –
using one thing to represent another – a story with dual meanings. Therefore, there is a surface or
literal meaning as well as a secondary meaning. In other words, Hawthorne uses this moral
allegory to reveal a moral lesson or lesson. What moral lessons do you discover in this story?
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QUOTE ANALYSIS Workshop: “Young Goodman Brown”
Example #1: “[Brown] had taken a dreary road, darkened by the gloomiest trees of the forest,
which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind. It
was all as lonely as could be; and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveler
knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead; so
that with lonely footsteps he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude” (Hawthorne).
PLOT-
LITERARY DEVICES-
ANTI-TRANS TRAITS-
ANALYSIS:
Example #2: “Without more words, he threw his companion the maple stick, and was as
speedily out of sight as if he had vanished into the deepening gloom. The young man sat a few
moments by the roadside, applauding himself greatly, and thinking with how clear a conscience
he should meet the minister in his morning walk, nor shrink from the eye of good old Deacon
Gookin. And what calm sleep would be his that very night, which was to have been spent so
wickedly, but so purely and sweetly now, in the arms of Faith! Amidst these pleasant and
praiseworthy meditations, Goodman Brown heard the tramp of horses. . . and deemed it
advisable to conceal himself. . . conscious of the guilty purpose that had brought him thither”
(Hawthorne).
PLOT-
LITERARY DEVICES-
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ANTI-TRANS TRAITS-
ANALYSIS:
Example #3:
PLOT-
LITERARY DEVICES-
ANTI-TRANS TRAITS-
ANALYSIS:
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“What Redburn Saw in Launcelott’s-Hey” – Herman Melville
Pre-reading: The main character, Willingborough Redburn, sails as a “cabin boy”
on a merchant vessel bound for Liverpool, England. Upon arrival, he discovers
something shocking in the port city’s streets and he attempts to offer help. This is a
story of the lesson he learns.
In the space below, spend 10 minutes free-writing about the following:
 What is the responsibility of the role of the “bystander” who sees or
interacts with someone homeless or in need? Explain.
 Does the responsibility change if the person in need is a child? Explain.
 Do you have firsthand experience with this topic? If so, explain what
happened.
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“What Redburn Saw in Launcelott’s-Hey” by Herman Melville
1. What was the nature of the sound that attracted Redburn’s attention to the opening in the
street called Launcelott’s-Hey?
2. What did Redburn see?
3. Describe Redburn’s reaction to what he saw?
4. What does Redburn learn about human nature from his attempt to get help for the
destitute woman and her children?
5. What is the thought that Redburn hesitantly confesses after he has brought water and food
to the dying woman and her children? Explain.
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“What Redburn Saw in Launcelott’s-Hey” by Herman Melville
DIRECTIONS: Complete the chart below as you read. Cite evidence from the text.
What Redburn Sees
Redburn’s Reactions,
Thoughts, Actions
The Townspeople
Redburn “Accosts”
The Townspeople’s
Thoughts and Actions
THEME: Based on your observations of the story, what do you think the theme of the story is? Record 2
possible themes below.
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