Rather than attempt to dissect the works of a more obscure writer I've decided to go with America's first well known and widely respected author, Washington Irving. Washington's story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is well known among my peers, but I can accurately assume far less have bothered to read it. I am sure most are familiar with the many movies and cartoon knockoffs the Headless Horseman has spawned. They shall not fret however, as I will explore this literary classic for thy dear lackadaisical MTV generation.
Upon first beginning the story, in parenthesis it states that the story was found among the papers of a Dietrich Knickerbocker. Also, in the beginning of Irving's other story Rip Van Winkle it says the same. I can only wonder what Washington meant when he went out of his way use a pen name his stories, probably known to be his anyway. Was this to add to the mystical sense of the story? Was it a sort of "Blair Witch Project" kind of B.S. to add life and mock authenticity to the tale? Or is he merely poking a jab at the elitist and old-fashioned residents Dutch in New York? I do know the phrase Knickerbocker must have gained some notoriety as it's a popular nick-name for a New Yorker and spawned an awful basketball team in desperate need of a new general manager.
Irving's story, with his long rambling paragraphs, isn't necessarily easy to read, but is certainly is much more comprehensible that some of the other things we've read in this era. He may be long winded, but writes for the most part, clearly and wittingly lets us know the key parts to our story, it setting, its inhabitants, and our pro and antagonist. I like his writing and can see how this story has held up so well over the years, certainly a man before ...
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...ad more deeply it shows enlightenment thinking and a tale of great romanticism. While "Sleepy Hallow" could be considered part of the enlightenment era, it still holds to those Puritan roots. It is a Puritan story of good over evil, with the kind schoolteacher, evil undead mercenary, and a town bewitched by a German doctor. It holds many Puritan ideals. Both Ichabod Cane and Abraham are both hardworking and educated gentleman. Ichabod is held in great respect for his faith, singing in the church, and always lending a helping hand to those in town. It is a classic tale of brains against brawn, David and Goliath. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and was quite surprised I didn't' encounter it earlier in my English classes. Also, having read some other stories of this era (most of which very dry with congested storytelling) makes you appreciate this classic that much more.
The readings “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving and The Monster by Stephen Crane are to amazing readings. However, these two texts represent violence and conflicts in different ways, which shows that although they have the same concept their tactic for this same concept is used in a different approach.
Over time the language of the original text of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Irving has been reworked to accommodate the change in audience. The Heath Anthology of American Literature has an unabridged version of the original wording (1354-1373). A complete copy of the original text of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" can be found in the young adolescent classic section of a bookstore or the juvenile section in the library. A juvenile edition of the text adapted by Arthur Rackham from 1928 was a replicate of the original it is filled with seven colored illustrations and numerous sketching. A young adolescent version adapted by Bryan Brown from 2001 has been abridged to accommodate the current young reader. The format is changed in Brownâs edition. The yo...
The original story by Washington Irving starts out in a small town of Sleepy Hollow. Irving paints an image of bountiful crops, beautiful scenery, and prosperous landowners. Ichabod Crane was a local pedagogue, who taught at the local schoolhouse. He was known for his strict ways and yet he was very popular amongst the families of his students- especially the ones who had ?pretty sisters.? Ichabod enjoyed spending fall evenings with the old widows as they sat by a fire and told stories of ghosts and demons and other supernatural beings. One story that was always told was one of the legendary Headless Horsemen. The tale tells of a soldier who had his head shot off with a cannon ball. His ghost now roamed Sleepy Hollow on his horse, looking for his lost head. In place of his head, sits a jack-o-lantern, which had a fiery glow.
The story the of Ichabod Crane paints a picture of the headmaster of a small town
Irving does this to help readers realize how caught up the society of Sleepy Hollow is with their past. Irving frequently brings up the Revolutionary war and how the headless horseman was a Hessian soldier from the war. When he writes, “The dominant spirit that haunts this enchanted region is the apparition of a figure on horseback without a head. It is said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper, whose head had been carried away by a cannonball in some nameless battle during the Revolutionary War… The specter is known, at all the country firesides, by the name of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow” (Irving 2). This is an allusion to the Revolutionary war because the headless horseman was a hessian soldier. This explains the theme of supernatural because the Headless Horseman haunts their town and the main character, Ichabod Crane, comes across the ghost of him. Another major allusion in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is Ichabod's belief in witches. The author supports this when saying, “He was, moreover, esteemed by the women as a man of great erudition, for he had read several books quite through, and was a perfect master of Cotton Mather's 'History of New England Witchcraft” (Irving 4). Ichabod also believes in the supernatural past. His belief in witches supports the theme of supernatural within the book. Referring to the past using allusion develops different themes within the
Irving draws out Katrina Van Tassel only in relation to the farm not to demean her, but rather to bring out her importance in the town to expose the dominance of women in Tarry Town. At the beginning of the story Knickerbockers sets the importance of women by stating that the town’s “name [is] given by the good housewives.” To emphasize this influence of women, Katrina is juxtaposing to the farm which develops that women are the central power of the town. This is evident in the following passages;
Irving wrote this story in response to the superstitions in his society by mocking them. He wrote a society based on superstitions to base their “story times” on. One of the famous stories is about the Headless Horseman. Ichabod Crane, a schoolmaster eventually gets scared of the idea of a headless horseman. However, he does not show his feelings to the public. At the end of the story Ichabod was being chased by the “Headless Horseman” and was never seen again. However, readers can infer that there was no horseman and it was just Brom wanting Ichabod out of the town so he stopped messing with his relationship with
Irving Washington. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 5th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998. 948-69.
Have you ever imagined being asleep in the forest for twenty years, coming back home and not knowing what has gone on all those years of your absence? Rip Van Winkle went through that, and had to come back home and face some real changes. The author Washington Irving has some interesting characters whom he puts in his short stories. Irving puts some characters in his short stories to reflect on some of his life. For example, Irving has similarities between Rip Van Winkle being asleep in the forest 20 years and Irving was in Europe for seventeen writing short stories and being the governor’s aid and military secretary. These two situations are similar, because they both didn’t know what they were going to come back too and were gone for such a long period of time. Irving does put some of his own life into his short stories and with a reason for his self-reflective works.
In Washington Irving’s work “Rip Van Winkle,” Irving demonstrates all characteristics of an American Mythology rather humorously. These characteristics affect the story attracting the attention of readers and impacting the reader’s experience of the story by relishing America’s unique attributes and values. In “Rip Van Winkle,” Irving incorporates attributes of American Mythology by setting the story in exciting pastimes, filling the story with strange and exaggerated characters, and featuring magical mysterious events.
Washington Irving created a pseudo historian for the purpose of bettering his own work and to entertain his readers. In 1809 Irving wrote "A History of New York" through a persona known as Diedrich Knickerbocker. This was Knickerbocker's first appearance in Irving's work, but it sure wouldn't be his last. Although he was not real, Knickerbocker was a historian that seemed to be in love with the people and landscape of the northeast, particularly New York. Even though Irving never revealed it, some of his characteristics may be found within Knickerbocker's writing.
In Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle,” an allegorical reading can be seen. The genius of Irving shines through, in not only his representation in the story, but also in his ability to represent both sides of the hot political issues of the day. Because it was written during the revolutionary times, Irving had to cater to a mixed audience of Colonists and Tories. The reader’s political interest, whether British or Colonial, is mutually represented allegorically in “Rip Van Winkle,” depending on who is reading it. Irving uses Rip, Dame, and his setting to relate these allegorical images on both sides. Irving would achieve success in both England and America, in large part because his political satires had individual allegorical meanings.
Irving, Washington. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Ed. Illustrated Arthur Rackham. United States: David McKay, 1928.
The improbable plots and unlikely characterization showed how much they used creativity. According to a Romanticism article, “The Romantics tended to define and to present the imagination as our ultimate ‘shaping’ or creative power, the approximate human equivalent of the creative powers of nature or even deity” (“Romanticism”). They believe that imagination is an essential and amazing ability that humans possess. Romantic authors often included examples of imagination and creativity within their works. In the short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” the supernatural plot and improbable characters illustrate the imagination of Romanticism writers (Irving). Washington Irving must have used a significant amount of creativity to come up with a story that involves a headless ghost riding a horse. He thought outside of his reality and environment in order to create an impossible and fascinating character. The Romantics favored imagination and creativity because they realized how invaluable it truly
Washington Irving’s short story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” was adapted into a movie titled “Sleepy Hollow” directed by Tim Burton nearly two centuries after the original publication. When the story was adapted as a film, several extensive changes were made. A short story easily read in one sitting was turned into a nearly two-hour thriller, mystery, and horror movie by incorporating new details and modifying the original version of the story. The short story relates the failed courtship of Katrina Van Tassel by Ichabod Crane. His courtship is cut short by the classic romance antagonist-the bigger, stronger, and better looking Broom Bones. Ichabod wishes to marry Katrina because of her beauty but also because of the wealthy inheritance she will receive when her father, Baltus Van Tassel and stepmother, Lady Van Tassel die. However, the film tells the story of Ichabod Crane as an investigator who is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the recent decapitations that are occurring. These modifications alter the original story entirely, thus failing to capture the Irving’s true interpretation of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” The film and the original story have similarities and differences in the plot, characters, and setting.