1. Dark Romantic Literature
The grotesque, gloomy, morbid and fantastic

2. The Writers Herman Melville Nathaniel Hawthorne Edgar Allan Poe
Interested in human psychology and the deep, dark workings of the subconscious mind.
Dark Romantics acknowledged the evil in men and the horror of evil.
Rooted in French, German, and English Gothic lit.

3. Literature elements Settings: wild, haunted landscapes.
Supernatural events and mysterious Gothic/medieval castles.
Relied heavily upon symbolism; terror is often given a concrete form in a symbol

4. The characters Haunted, alienated, isolated, and obsessed characters
Protagonists pitted against unknowable dark fates that in some mysterious way grow out of their deepest unconscious selves
Alienation from society as a result of:
Pride
Selfishness
Coldness of heart
Emergence of secret sin into the world