Geoffrey of Monmouth

A few months ago, my cousin Mark invited me to help on his farm. I accepted his invitation, knowing he would pay me handsomely. However, when I set foot on the farm, one thought came to mind: what a dump! Mark 's farm was so pitiful one could mistake it for a junkyard. One thing that stuck out to me was his cattle. The poor creatures did not have anything to eat. All of Mark 's grass was dead, and I could count every cow 's ribs from a football field away. As I roamed around Mark 's farm, it…

The main focus of all my research on Washington Irving, a Yankee living in New York, was to learn how the first American author pictured the world. Irving is widely considered the first American author not because he was the first author in North America, but because he is the first person in America to write stories “by heart”. What I mean by writing with heart was that Irving wrote with a passion, as he considered his work written for the reason of what he loved the most, humor. Irving wrote…

Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” exemplifies the theory of imagination using escapism. After sleeping for 20 years, readers are forced to distinguish between Rip’s fantasy and his past. In addition, Rip awakens in another time, therefore his imagination, and intelligence is more developed than the townspeople, or his wife ever thought. Rip’s imagination not only created a free nation, he also freed himself from a nightmarish marriage. Throughout the tale of “Rip Van Winkle,” Irving paints a clear…

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” can be read allegorically as a condemnation of the nefarious effects of the patriarchy on young women, represented here by Aylmer and his beautiful wife Georgiana. Georgiana has a birthmark on her check, and because she is other wise “so perfect, [Aylmer] found this one defect grow more and more intolerable, with every moment of their united lives” (pg. 419). Immediately the reader realizes that Aylmer does not see his wife as a human being to be loved…

Have you ever thought what it would be like to live in a fantasy world or to a part of your favorite fictional book? Many people think that these fake worlds would be better than reality. There are so many characteristics in these stories that make us find it more appealing. Whether it be the unique characters or magical events. A lot of these characteristics we like about stories appear in American myths. All of the main characteristics of an American myth can be found in Washington Irving’s…

These included Johnathan Oldstyle (1802-03), Diedrich Knickerbocker (1807-09), and Geoffrey Crayon (1819-20). Though short-lived, had distinct characteristics which differentiated them from one another, similar to multiple personalities with the common characteristics of a satirical sense of humor. Each alias came with its own type of historical…

Journalist Linda Ellerbee, once stated, "People are pretty much alike. It 's only that our differences are more susceptible to definition than our similarities." People do not realize how similar they are until they determine what they have in common. We can see that people accept our differences because our differences make us who we are. Linda Ellerbee 's statement reminded me of the main characters in the stories "The Devil and Tom Walker" and "Rip Van Winkle". Tom and Rip are two…

Washington Irving’s character Rip Van Winkle was a man looking to escape his troubles. When he escaped he slept for twenty years. During his sleep wars were won and lost, a new country was formed and people moved on from their memory of him. Rip Van Winkle’s town, townspeople, and house changed physically and politically while he stayed in the past during his sleep. His sleep demonstrates Irving’s idea of escapism. Irving writes how Rip Van Winkle wanted to escape due to his troubles. Before…

Figurative language can be used to paint a theme for a specific piece of literature. When the figurative language is utilized it can establish a tone and mood for the reader. In doing so, it also allows for the piece of literature to be defined into different forms like romantic and Gothic literature. “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving have different examples of figurative language that allows for them to be classified as romantic and gothic.…

“Rip Van Winkle”, written by Washington Irving, is about a man in colonial America named Rip Van Winkle, who falls asleep in the Catskill Mountains and wakes up twenty years later, having missed the American Revolution. The setting of “Rip Van Winkle” is in New York before and after the American Revolution. Irving uses historical allegory to create an American Romantic folktale that strengthens the national identity of the newly formed country. The main character and protagonist of the story is…