Washington Irvings Rip Van Winkle Shapes American...

Washington Irvings Rip Van Winkle Shapes American Culture Darkness...lowers upon my mind, and the times are so hard they sicken my soul, says Washington Irving in a letter to a friend (Letters 446). This statement reveals Irvings intense emotional condition, and in many ways indicates the intense social atmosphere as well as his personal conflicts, during the composition of The Sketch Book. Upon the bankruptcy of his familys fortune, of which he depended on solely for his monetary security, Irving found himself flung into the galling mortifications of independence (Letters 487). In response to this trauma, he sailed to England to regain his composure and hopefully secure his stake as a writer so he could provide for†¦show more content†¦And this incapacitation resulted in great despondency until one night when speaking to Van Wart (the owner of the house where he stayed). Upon Van Warts attempts to cheer him, Irvings mind suddenly let loose and thoughts came with a rush, faster than he could write them (Williams 168). This is an excerpt describing the night he wrote The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle: ...for being fettered so long by the ice of long mental despondency. Until morning and through the small hours he wrote. At morning the June sun shone through the shutters, revealing him still bent over his table. The Van Warts at breakfast looked up to see him enter, radiant, the fresh manuscript in his hand. He said it had all come back to him; Sleepy Hollow had awakened him from his long dull, desponding slumber; and then he read the first chapters of Rip Van Winkle (Williams 169). The composition of these sketches was sporadic in nature and it seems as if the Muses opened up their floodgates on Irving that night. This aspect of the composition of these stories, as well The Sketch Book as a whole, adds somewhat of a romantic atmosphere on Irving as a writer. Because so many want to believe that authors somehow transcend normal human efforts, and their hands and minds are just vessels for the words, thoughts, andShow MoreRelatedSymbolism In Rip Van Winkle1165 Words   |  5 PagesWashington Irving Rip Van Winkle, a short story written by Washington Irving, is set in the Dutch culture of pre-Revolutionary war in New York and is based on a German folktale. Rip is a farmer that goes into the Kaatskill mountains to get away from his wife but ends up drinking a strange liquor, falls asleep, wakes up 20 years later to find out that the world around him has changed dramatically including the death of his wife and his children growing up. In the story of Rip Van Winkle, Irving intertwinesRead MoreWashington Irving Essay665 Words   |  3 PagesWashington Irving Diedrich Knickerbocker; Geoffrey Crayon; Henry A. Buchanan; Jonathan Oldstyle. All were famous writers of the nineteenth century. All had one important thing in common-they are all one man-Washington Irving. Using these pen names, among many, Irving developed a legacy of utilizing European culture to cultivate American aspects of literature. Fred Lewis Pattee asserted, American short story began in 1819 wit Washington Irving. (Gale Group 4) Irving is best known forRead More The Search for America in Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow3267 Words   |  14 Pagesfor America in Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the early to mid-1800s, Washington Irving was an immensely popular writer heralded as one of the great American writers.   Irvings importance lies especially in Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the sketches in which he creates the vision of the alternate America(n).   His critique of American society through his main characters-Rip and Ichabod-and the towns in which they live gives shape to an AmericaRead MoreEarly American Literature Essay1511 Words   |  7 Pageswith the triumph of American independence, many at the time saw this as a divine sign that America and her people were destined for greatness. Greatness came with a strong nation and thousands of poems and stories that still shape our nation. The recent revolution greatly expressed the heart of the American people. However, it would take another fifty years of development throughout American before it produced the first great generation of American writers such as, Washington I rving, Ralph WaldoRead MoreWashington Irving and Romanticism Essays1611 Words   |  7 PagesThe 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 quantities or limited amounts in 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 a unique study about