Washington Irving

Washington Irving, considered the father and creator of the American short story, writes symbolically of American society through his characters and themes. Heis credited withbringing short stories into the Dark Romantic...

“The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving and “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are both short stories that illustrate Puritan ideas about the place of evil in human nature. Both short stories revolve around a central character...

Romanticism is a literary movement that has been defining American culture for the past 200 years. Romantic literature is characterized by a focus on internal forces, emotion, morality, nature, and fantasy. James Lowell’s, “The First Snowfall”,...

Washington Irving’s short story “Rip Van Winkle” has endured as an American classic that places timeless themes against a backdrop of the American Revolution. Rip Van Winkle, the placid, charitable, idle Dutch-American protagonist enjoys his slow...

Washington Irvin wrote Rip Van Winkle’s story to represent the struggles and problems that the Americans went through while they were under Britain’s control, and after it, when the American Revolution broke out. In order to capture the essence of...

Washington Irving’s name has become almost synonymous with American Literature. Characters of his like Ichabod Crane and Rip Van Winkle are cultural icons known by nearly anyone with passing knowledge of literature, and many of his works have been...

In the Washington Irving narrative that bears his name, Rip Van Winkle proves throughout the entire story that he is a romantic hero. Romantic heroes focus around rejection of convention, individuality, and personal expression shown through many...

In Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the theme of haunting is dominant; the haunting itself is purely a human creation and is created solely to meet human needs. Though at times it can seem quite realistic due to emotions evoked...

Peter Lerangis' Sleepy Hollow is a magnificent example of romantic fiction. It contains and expounds upon all of the vital elements of romanticism. Lerangis includes an exemplary romantic hero and his quest to find truth in an abstract issue. An...

Washington Irving

Washington Irving, considered the father and creator of the American short story, writes symbolically of American society through his characters and themes. Heis credited withbringing short stories into the Dark Romantic...

Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is a story beloved my many, and Ichabod Crane is a highly debated character. Some believe he is merely a man that helped to tell the tale of the legendary Headless Horseman, and others see him as...

Terry W. Thompson’s article “‘Lively but Complicated:’ English Hegemony in ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’” was published in Midwest Quarterly in 2013. In this article, Thompson explores the political climate in Washington Irving’s famed short story...

Washington Irving lived throughout the late 18th - early 19th century and was an American short story writer, essayist, historian, and diplomat. His piece of work, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” can be considered as a classic in today’s American...

Washington Irving’s name has become almost synonymous with American Literature. Characters of his like Ichabod Crane and Rip Van Winkle are cultural icons known by nearly anyone with passing knowledge of literature, and many of his works have been...