Name: ____________________ Date: ___________________

Block: _________
The American Nightmare: Introduction to Gothic Literature
pgs. 304-305
1. Summarize the fundamental problem with Romanticism and personal fulfillment:

2. Romanticism developed as a reaction to the Age of _________________.

3. Do you believe that every individual has a dark side? Why or why not?

4. List three examples of dark emotions:

5. Would dark emotions generate more interesting or less interesting literature? Why?

6. What is Edgar Allan Poes theory?

7. American Gothic writers are considered ___________________ Romantics or Anti________________________.
8. Based on what you have already learned about Transcendentalism, what would you expect the beliefs,
attitudes, and social concerns of Gothic writers to be?
9. List the three basic characteristics of this school of literary thought. Place a star next to the one that is most
similar to Transcendentalism.
10. Where did the term goth originate?
What did it refer to in the 18th century?
What does it mean today?
11. Gothic writers believed that humans have an inherent capacity for _________________.
12. List five gothic elements or conventions that are still popular in todays literary or film creations:

13. What event did the American Gothic literary movement foreshadow?