what is macabre

Macabre is an adjective used to describe something that is very strange and unpleasant because it is connected with death or has a grim or ghastly atmosphere. In works of art, the macabre emphasizes the details and symbols of death. The term can also refer to works that are particularly gruesome in nature. Examples of macabre works can be found in literature, such as the works of Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King in American literature, and John Webster, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mervyn Peake, Charles Dickens, Roald Dahl, Thomas Hardy, and Cyril Tourneur in English literature. The word "macabre" has its origins in French, where it was used to describe the allegorical representation of the ever-present and universal power of death, known in German as Totentanz and later in English as the Dance of the Dead.