Reflection- The Pit & the Pendulum

The story from our book, The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe, was very...interesting, in my opinion.  Actually, my opinion is that I did not like it at all and it was one of the strangest things we have ever have had to read in this English class.  (Tell us how you really feel, right Ainsley?)  I am sorry, but I just needed to get that out there before I went on.  The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe has very many qualities of the Dark Romanticism period.  In class, we discussed how the Dark Romanticism style of writing was similar to the regular Romanticism style of writing, but it does have its own unique qualities.  One thing that is seen in many works from the Dark Romanticism period is the setting or use of exotic places.  In this case, "exotic" places are not limited to a beach or a jungle somewhere in India (the first thing that always pops into my head when I think of the word "exotic," though I honestly have no idea if it fits the description), or someplace like that, but it can also branch into the supernatural world, Heaven, Hell, etc.  In the story The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator is slipping in and out of consciousness.  The state of unconsciousness definitely is not natural, and I think it is safe to say that it would be considered supernatural.  One was the author describes it is, "The blackness of eternal night emcompassed me."  Another thing trait of the Dark Romanticism period that is portrayed in The Pit and the Pendulum is moral crisis, or dealing with a personal problem that is internal.  The man in this story is having a problem with life and death.  He is fighting the battle with staying on this world and leaving his body to go somewhere beyond this world.  In The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe, the man in the story talks about how scared he was because it seemed as if he was in between worlds.  He describes how it seemed like there was eternal darkness, but he was still able to move his limbs and feel things from the world.  It seems like he was really just unable to open his eyes, and I am almost positive he would have been able to.  Oh well.  As I said before, I did not like this story at all because it is so grim and dark and kind of scary, but I guess one plus is that no one died in the end.  I am a little tired of reading stories that involve death.  In the story's defense, though, I think I just do not really care for the writing of the Dark Romanticism period.  It is so dark, spooky, and I feel like it hardly ever gives me the feeling of happiness when I read it.  I like how it still has some of the characteristics of the regular Romanticism writing style, which includes nature and happiness, but it is like a scary version of nature.  It is a little too intense for my taste.