Griffin Dynes

Kirschner
English II: Literary Analysis
10/04/15
Analyzing the Great Works of Dark Romanticism
During the Dark Romanticism era, authors such as Edgar Allen Poe who wrote The City
in the Sea, Herman Melville with The Bell Tower, and Nathaniel Hawthorne with Dr.
Heideggers Experiment, studied how the mind worked through literature. In this essay, these
three great works of American literature are analyzed through finding important symbols,
imagery, uses of figurative language, and tone.
Throughout these short stories and poem, there are many of symbols shown. One
example of a symbol is the city in The City in the Sea. In the poem, the city represents an
afterlife, where the dead go whether they have done good or evil. Another symbol that is found
in The Bell Tower, is the tower. This symbol represents both magnificence and failure, triumph
and disappointment. The last symbol, from Dr. Heideggers Experiment, is the water from the
Fountain of Youth. This symbolizes a chance for a new beginning, a chance to be happy again
even though the happiness does not last forever. Another element that the water represents in
greed, because as the patients begin to grow younger, they start to have a wanting for more of
this addictive substance.
Another important factor in these works of American literature is imagery. One quote
from The City in the Sea describes the palace. But light from out the lurid sea/ Streams up the

turrets silently-/ Gleams up the pinnacles far and free-/ Up domes- up spires- up kingly halls-/ Up
fanes- up Babylon-like walls-/ Up shadowy long-forgotten bowers/ Of sculptured ivy and stone
flowers- (Poe 14-20). This quote shows strong imagery in the description of the City. From
reading this quote, one could envision an empty palace with majestic features to it. In The Bell
Tower, Melville also shows imagery through describing the bell tower. "Saying that though
truly the tower was Titanic, yet limit should be set to the dependentcontributed by the public
spirit of the nobles, let loose the tide" (Melville 2). Melville helps to communicate to the reader
about how extravagant the tower is to the viewers. Another final source for imagery can be found
in Dr. Heideggers Experiment. One quote that shows an image of the setting in the short story
is, If all stories were true, Doctor Heidegger's study must have been a very curious place. It was
a dim, old-fashioned chamber, festooned with cobwebs and besprinkled with antique
dust...Doctor Heidegger was accustomed to hold consultations in all difficult cases of his
practice (Hawthorne 1). This excerpt helps the reader to visualize the chamber which Dr.
Heidegger works in.
In addition to imagery, the use of figurative language plays a significant role in these
pieces of Dark Romanticism. One example of figurative language in The City in the Sea is,
But light from out the lurid sea/ Streams up the turrets silently (Poe 14-15). This use of
personification gives light the ability of being silent. Also, Melville uses many uses of similes to
support the description of the bell tower and how it was being built. One case of a simile is,
Stone by stone, month by month, the tower rose. Higher, higher; snail-like in pace, but torch or
rocket in its pride (Melville 1). This use of figurative language compares the rate that the bell
tower built to the pace of a snail. Although the building rate is slow, the tower still resembles a
massive accomplishment. However in Hawthornes Dr. Heideggers Experiment, figurative

language is shown through personification such as, Now he muttered some perilous stuff or
other, in a sly and doubtful whisper, so cautiously that even his own conscience could scarcely
catch the secret (Hawthorne 5). In this sentence, Hawthorne personifies Dr. Heideggers
conscience with catching a secret.
Lastly, another critical element that makes a short story or poem, a piece of Dark
Romanticism is tone. In The City in the Sea, the poem consists of an eerie and gloomy tone.
This helps to add to the afterlife setting which Poe creates in his poem. Another tone that helps to
contribute to its story is the prideful tone in the beginning of The Bell Tower, which later
changes to a sorrowful tone when the bell tower does not ring on schedule. For Dr. Heideggers
Experiment, the tone shifts throughout the short story. At first, the tone is eerie, then it shifts to
merry and later a gloomy tone when the experimented begin to turn back into old people.
Concluding the analyzation of The City in the Sea, The Bell Tower, and Dr.
Heideggers Experiment, one can know how symbols, imagery, figurative language, and tone
affect these short stories and poem to push them to being works of Dark Romanticism.