From the other aspect, the circumstances itself opened the new door for Washington Irving to visit and make good friendships in European countries which further would directly impact on his literary and political activity. These circumstances emerged by Irving’s illness. Being suffered from ill health he visited European countries for several times. The other reason which closely connected him to Europe was his political activity where he met the key representatives of different areas including literary world. One of the outstanding persons among his friends was Charles Dickens with whom Irving had good relations. At times, he had chance to express his thoughts and feelings about Irving and his literary activity. The valuable thoughts of …show more content…
He called those areas “lordly Hudson” where he created his valuable literary icons that will be passed from generation to generation. He was very talented author of hundreds works which played great role in American literature. At the same time he was a good man possessing humane qualities. In one of Azerbaijani proverbs it says that it is easy to become a scientist, but it is hard to become a man, it is meant to become a personality. It seems Irving possessed invaluable treasure inside which always led him to love people and nature. We can see these peculiarities of Washington Irving in salutatory speeches in his honour addressed by the persons whom he met and made friendships. Mr. James Wood, President of the Westchester County Historical Society, during encaenia of one hundredth birthday of Irving organized by Washington Irving Association at Tarrytown-on-Hudson, Tuesday, April 03, 1883 in salutatory address while emphasizing Irving’s talent as an author mentioned his other peculiarities as a person, citizen, neighbor, and gentleman. Also he added that we all realize that the renown of Washington Irving belongs to humanity [5, p.
Throughout Irving’s story, he used characterization, irony, the dreams, and other literacy devices to bring The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to life for Irving’s audience.
Washington Irving: Moderation Displayed". Oxford UP. 1962. 233. in Discovering Authors.
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.
The Romantic era writers, Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe, had many similarities but even more differences, in both writing theme and style. This is very evident in their works, “Rip Van Winkle”, by Irving, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”, by Poe.
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.
For a large part of his life, Stoker knew the world famous actor Henry Irving. Irving is said to have even inspired the Dracula character. Brigitte Boudreau states that “Many have described the friendship as one where Irving – like the notorious Count-depleted Stoker both physically and emotionally, from the moment they met until Irving’s last breath.” (Boudreau, 44).This is interesting for Stoker may have even been a closeted homosexual who was in love with Irving even though he had a wife named Florence Stoker at the time. In fact he was so devoted to him that he wrote an entire “idolatrous biography” about Irving. However, he was more likely to have been a “homosocial” man which means that he mostly associated himself with other men instead
At a glance, you would think that Irving’s stories are just generally entertaining pieces of work, and aren’t necessarily pinpointing a certain group of people, right? Wrong. Irving’s texts incorporates some issues of gender equality and victimization within the stories. In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, and The Devil and Tom Walker, there were many examples of how Washington Irving discriminated against the female gender in these three texts.
In his stories the women were not portrayed as nice. Women were usually nagging and would fight with their husbands. Some critics felt that Irving took an anti-feminism approach to his writing. However some critic feel that The Legend of Sleepy Hollow shows importance of marriage. Some critics also argue the quality of his work. Some pieces of his work are considered remarkable. While other pieces of his work are considered not to be that good.
Irving uses imagery to help readers imagine the past and also impact the theme of supernatural. Irving writes, “The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions; star shoot and meteors glare oftener across the valley than in any other part of the country, and the nightmare, with her whole ninefold, seems to make it the favorite scene of her gambols. The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head” (Irving 3-4). Once again, Irving makes a reference to the hessian soldier, the Headless Horseman, which brings back the past of the revolutionary war, he does this by using imagery in explaining what he looks like. This also ties in with the theme of supernatural. Irving also describes, “ There was a contagion in the very air that blew from that haunted region; it breathed forth an atmosphere of dreams and fancies infecting all the land” (Irving 1). This helps us readers imagine the atmosphere and the theme of supernatural within the town. The mentioning of the hauntings brings up the past once
Irving, Washington. The Norton Anthology American Literature. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2013. Print.
In the story, The Adventure Of The German Student by Washington Irving, the author makes the story interesting by leaving hints and clues to the readers about the beautiful girl whom Wolfgang has fallen for. In the beginning of the story, the student was haunted by devils so his family and friends suggested that he moved to Paris and so he did. For instance, “He became haggard and desponding. His friends discovered the mental malady preying upon him, and determined that the best cure was a change of scene” (Irving 1). His friends clearly knew that he was taken over by the devil and that his imaginations became very mad. His friends thought this was the best cure for him. However, as the student moved to France, the devil was still following
The short stories of Washington Irving are examples of the literary movement of Romanticism and its characteristics which are evidenced in this author’s works. These characteristics are sometimes found in abundant qualities or limited amounts of his each of his short stories. However, no matter what short story Washington Irving wrote, the Age of Romanticism and its defining characteristics are found in each of his selections. So, too, do each of the author’s short stories present unique study about the author’s intentions for creating his work. In Washington Irving’s selection “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” the author examines the conflict and contrast between Ichabod Crane, who is Katrina’s musical instructor, and Brom Bones, who is like by
In his work titled, “Washington Irving and the Genesis of the Fictional Sketch” Jeffrey Rubin-Dorsky writes on the fictional sketch as it relates to Irving’s work, “The Sketch Book.” On the setting he writes, “Irving’s literary sketches call attention to object as well as to observer and therefore rely upon a strong visual rendering of the realistic details of scene and setting” (232). A castle is immediately associated with wealth however, Irving continues on to write on the castle, “It is now quite fallen to decay, and almost buried among beech trees and dark firs; above which, however, its old watch-tower may still be seen struggling... “(107). The setting of the story may be set in a castle, but choosing to describe the castle this way indicates that the current family that occupies the castle is holding onto past wealth. This is the case as the story continues with Irving writing, “Though the warlike disposition of his predecessors had much impaired the family possessions, yet the baron still endeavored to keep up some show of former state” (107). By opening his story with a description of the castle in which the baron and his family are living in, Irving
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.
Irving, Washington. "Washington Irving, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."" The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Ed. Paul Lauter. Sixth. Vol. B. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. 2321-40. Print. 2 vols. The Heath Anthology of American Literature.