Washington Irving

Irving’s Romanticism Washington Irving, the first American writer achieves fame in Romantic literature, through legendary stories such as “The Devil and Tom Walker” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Irving captivates his readers with his ability to twist minds by teaching valuable lessons through Romantic fiction. His spooky story about a “Headless Horseman” and the characters in the story demonstrations the movement of Romanticism. Romanticism is when a treatment of a subject is emotional…

for we see in the beginning of the story, Irving tells that "whoever made a voyage..." These bodies of water in both stories enhance the imagery in both stories. Another similarity in the setting are the forests. We see Tom stroll through "The swamp thick with gloomy pines." On the other hand, Rip lives by houses "whose shingle roofs gleam among the trees." Both Tom and Rip 's stories take place in a forest, and by a body of water. The author Washington Irving chooses to write about these…

you know that there are some myths that originated right at home? Washington Irving’s story of Rip Van Winkle manages to merge several traits of a mythological story. The traits we 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…

I believe Washington Irving’s purpose for writing “Rip Van Winkle” was to express the simple concept of uncontrollable change. To express change Irving used a clever fairy tale, drenched in historical truths. Reading Rip was entertaining, but unlocking the depth was not simple. My conclusion is this: on the individual level change is inevitable, the world is a moving place, but we have a choice, we can either change with it or stay the same, and even with that it is still up to the community to…

“Rip Van Winkle” was an iconic short story that was written by Washington Irving, in June, 1818. It was so well-known that almost every child in the United States has read it or heard about it once in their lifetime. Irving creates a simple-minded and easygoing character named Rip Van Winkle. He was cherished by the community, but his wife henpecks him day and night because of his carefree attitude. However, Irving’s illustration of Rip does not encompass the true reality of the “American Dream”…

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…

The Devil and Tom Walker The setting of Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker” serves as a way for Irving to foreshadow coming events, especially events that are rather… grim. For example, “The swamp was… grown with great gloomy pines and hemlocks”. Pine is a tree that can be seen as symbolising an everlasting element, and hemlock is extremely poisonous to domestic animals and, more importantly, humans. Later, Tom Walker meets the character named ‘Old Scratch, or the devil. The devil is…

What do a cat and a headless horse man have in common? The world may never know. But, the world will know how the two stories by Edgar Allan Poe and Washington Irving are incredibly different but also very similar. “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving share many aspects of romanticism; these include the importance of nature, supernatural events, and a sense of individualism. Although these similarities are present the stories are very…

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. During the 1800s, writers began Gothic and romantic forms of literature. Gothic literature explores a pessimistic perspective in human nature while using dark themes and horrific images. A famous example is Washington Irving. Romantic literature explores more optimistic…

Rip Van Winkle Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving is the quintessential example of American Romanticism. Using characteristics that he would later use in his more widely known novel, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” And incorporating characteristics from the “Leatherstocking Tales” novel series. Characteristics such as heroic simplicity and intensely detailed descriptions of nature. Other characteristics like A national/ self-identity playing a large part in the characters popularized by the…