Irving Berlin

Washington Irving creates this social conflict between the characters Ichabod Crane and Katrina Van Tassel in, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Ichabod Crane, a strict school teacher and singing instructor, represents the lower-class in this short story and Katrina,…

While verse was economically marginal in the early nineteenth century, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) became the first American poet who could live off his royalties (Gioia 74). He was also the first poet of the New World to achieve an international fame; his reputation reached Europe and even Latin America (64). Devoted to the creation of a native literature, Longfellow committed himself to developing an American poetic diction. In “Our Native Writers” (1825), his graduation address,…

When hearing the words trickster tales, one may assume it to be a fictional story. But the narrative that is about to unfold before you is veracious. The Native American trickster tale “Ikto Conquers Iya, the Eater” is an unusual, enthralling piece of literature. A trickster is known by definition as a “a deceiver; cheat; fraud” (Dictionary), but this tale is more about using wit in a comical way. There’s a deeper message within the text. “Ikto Conquers Iya, the Eater” seems silly throughout it…

Not only was Irving able to manipulate the concept of cognitive authority in his two books, but Holocaust revisionists in general have been able to manipulate cognitive authority of historians in other ways. Deborah Lipstadt, in her book Denying the Holocaust, offers a great insight on just how Irving and other revisionists have been able to become so prominent. She says that revisionists have been able to gain some amount of authority by “camouflaging their goals” (Lipstadt 1993). They hide…

Biography Bram Stoker, the man who would one day create one of the most recognized figures in literature, did not have a normal childhood. Stoker had been sick since his birth in 1847. His mysterious illness prevented him from walking and his mother Charlotte would have to carry him when he wanted to move. Most of the time Stoker lied in bed alone with his thoughts and all the sounds and sensations that came from the window in his room. Stoker’s only playmates were his siblings Thornley and…

There are plenty of ways to pass time. If you’re taking the bus home after a long night at work and waiting for your stop to come, play a quick game on your phone or listen to music, maybe chat with someone sitting next to you. If you’re waiting in the long lines at Disneyland, take a minute to pay attention to accents and other languages that you might hear, or watch the faces of the people just getting off the ride. If you’re waiting for your nagging shrewish wife to finally stop pestering and…

will focus on include, setting the story in the past, filled with exaggerated characters, and features magical events with their consequences. How do these traits affect the story? And how do readers feel because of these traits? Now, Irving uses the setting to add a mythological characteristic to “Rip Van Winkle”. The years after the American Revolution used as the setting further the plot. When we first meet Rip Van Winkle he was living in a “village” which “was yet…

Washington Irving is an author that is known for his unique way of delivering messages to the reader. He primarily gives a strong signal to his audience in the short story called, "The Devil and Tom Walker." Through this short story, he expresses the value of life through a character by the name of Tom Walker. Throughout the story, it is said multiple times that Tom and his wife have an extremely miserable life together and that they are a lower class, slipshod type of family. Irving talks…

settings, actions, or characters, influenced American literature and are still present in many stories today. Some of these gothic elements include those of terror, the supernatural, and the dark outdoors. Both the Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving and Somnambulism by Charles Brockden Brown contain gothic elements in the form of terror, horror, fear of unknown, madness, and setting of the story. In the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the school teacher, Ichabod Crane, falls in love with a…

The first way that Irving shows pleasure and discomfort was through Rev. Lewis Merrill. In this scene, Johnny is mesmerized by the significance of Owen's death. He addresses Dan Needam and Rev. Merrill about his sudden belief in God and that miracles are real. Johnny posed a question asking Dan whether or not he believed Owen's death was a miracle. Dan replied by telling Johhny that he wasn't going to contradict Johnny's belief. Johnny then pose another question emphasizing on whethere or not…