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U53, Main themes, Based on Melville's years of experience aboard…

- - - - 1940s novels
        
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        Moby-Dick
        
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- - - - His technique was to put his characters into unusual situations and next he would carefully describe their feelings of terror or guilt, as in The Pit And The Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat. The common element in all his stories is that he rarely shows the actual object of horror. Instead, the reader has to use his imagination.
  - - - Augustine Dupin & Detective stories
        
        Auguste Dupin
        
        The Murderers in the Rue Morgue
        
        The Purloined Letter
        
        The Mystery of Marie Roget
        
        Dupin is the prototype of the perfect detective, an amateur, who demonstrates a great ability to solve crimes by analysing clues unobserved or misinterpreted by the police. Also, he is always in the company of his simple friend, the narrator of the stories.
        
        Considered the first ever detective story where the crime takes place in a seemingly impossible location. Here, the fictional French detective Auguste Dupin is first introduced as he investigates a dreadful double murder in Rue Morge, a street in Paris.
        
        It involves the theft of a compromising letter and its subsequent hiding in plain sight. Dupin uses his analytical skills to recover the stolen letter, which is being used to blackmail a prominent individual. It presents the theory that when all other possibilities have been discarded, the one remaining, though apparently improbable, must be correct.
        
        A fictionalized account inspired by a real-life unsolved murder case, in which the detective Auguste Dupin attempts to solve the mystery of the death of Marie Rogers, although the story ends presenting several possible scenarios, leaving the case unsolved.
        
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      - Gothic horror stories
        
        Madness & obsession
        
        Unreliable narrators
        
        Gothic settings
        
        the Supernatural
        
        Inspired by personal loss
        
        Prevalent in Poe's works, his characters frequently experience mental & emotional breakdowns. Poe’s ability to portray descent into madness set his horror tales apart from others of his time and helped establish psychological horror as a genre.
        
        Poe frequently used unreliable narrators who bring readers into their twisted mindsets, often making the story even more disturbing. In “The Black Cat,” the narrator insists he is sane while recounting a horrific act of animal cruelty and murder. This technique adds a sense of ambiguity & psychological horror, as readers question the narrator’s version of events.
        
        Poe’s stories often suggest supernatural forces without confirming them, leaving readers in a state of suspense. In “Ligeia,” the narrator believes his deceased wife has returned in the body of another woman. This ambiguity around the supernatural heightens the mystery, making readers question reality along with the narrator.
        
        Poe’s fascination with themes of death, loss, and the macabre was influenced by the many tragedies in his life, including the death of his mother, foster mother, and wife, Virginia.
- - - - Leaves of Grass
        
        Continuous evolution
        
        Pioneered "free verse"
        
        Explicit sexual content
        
        The first, self-published edition of Leaves of Grass in 1855, consisted of just 12 untitled, anonymous poems.Whitman continually revised & expanded Leaves of Grass throughout his life, with the final "deathbed edition" (published in the year of his death) contained over 300 poems. Hence, it represents the result of his personal development, both as a poet & as a human being.
        
        Whitman popularized the use of free verse (without rhyme or metre), which broke away from the strict rhyme & meter of traditional poetry. His style was revolutionary, marked by long lines and a cadence that mimics natural speech. Hence, he invented a completely new & completely American form of poetic expression. To him, message was always more important than form. In his poetry, the lines are not usually organized into stanzas; instead, they look like ordinary sentences. And yet, it can still be heard or felt a clear rhythm thanks to the repetition of words & sounds, patterns of stress, pauses, etc. However, to most of his contemporaries it seemed completely "unpoetic". But Whitman wrote in a plain style so that ordinary people could read him.
        
        The book was considered highly controversial for its explicit sexual content & candid discussions of the body. Some critics deemed it obscene, which affected its reception. However, this boldness also contributed to Whitman's reputation as an innovator.
        
        Song of Myself
        
        Celebration of the Self
        
        Democratic spirit /
        American identity
        
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        an exploration of the Self
        
        Children of Adam & Calamus
        
        an exploration of (homo)sexuality
        
        Celebration of physical pleasure
        
        Celebration of homo-sexuality
        
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- - - - The 1830s was an age of optimism & rapid westward expansion. At this time Boston and its neighbouring towns and villages were filled with a great intellectual excitement and activity. These young intellectuals (like Ralph Waldo Emerson & Henry David Thoreau) were dissatisfied with the old patriotism (from American independence) and were not interested in America’s power or wealth, and there was much talk about “The New Spiritual Era”. Instead they proposed to explore the inner self, the individual. In order to do this most of them kept diaries of their lives and feelings, studied philosophy, became vegetarians or nudists… In the centre of this intellectual activity was Trandescendalism.
  - - - They supported true individualism, stayed out of society and aimed to withdraw the individuals from the masses, as they encouraged the "New American" to be intellectually & morally self-sufficient /independent, that is, true to themselves & their beliefs, even if it meant going against societal norms/expectations (non-conformity). Many transcendentalists were also involved in social reform movements, including abolitionism & women's rights, out of their belief in the inherent goodness of humanity.