Washington Irving: Incomparable Of The Romantics

Washington Irving was the youngest of eleven children, born into a somewhat wealthy New York City merchant family in 1783. He wrote for newspapers, journals, and magazines in his twenties. Shortly afterward, he worked in publishing and editing. As a true belletrist, Erving found great enjoyment in writing. His first notable book, (which he heralded the release of with a fanciful precursor,) was A History of New York (1809), published under one of his many clever, pseudonyms “Diedrich Knickerbocker.”

American Romanticism illustrates the first purely American literary movement that began alongside the beginning of a new nation. American Romanticism appeared in response to the rationalists, such as Ben Franklin, which the American Romantics believed to be too single-minded and not as expressive. Therefore, this literary movement turned away from the corruption of cities and the physical world and focused on nature and imagination. Washington Irving, in his stories “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”, displays characteristics of American Romanticism and creates American Romantic heroes.

Upon seeing this quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne my first thought was ‘Oh god, I have to write an essay on this.’ Not something an author wants to hear at first, but after a thinking about it, I think this one might be happy someone’s writing an essay on something he said over 150 years later. Even after all that time this quote is still relevant and has no need to be changed. The writing views of Nathaniel Hawthorne are agreeable, however, i’ve never heard any of J.D. Salinger’s views on writing, but I feel like I’d agree with him too based off of his book The Catcher In The Rye. Though, I do not think I would agree with Mark Twain after having read The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn.

Despite the evidence that Washington Irving uses to show his love for America in his stories, he portrays some characters in the Devil and Tom Walker and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as greedy. Irving shows concern for America by placing stories in uniquely American moments. In this essay I will prove through passages and quotes from Irving’s stories that he shows his love for America in his stories and portrays some characters as greedy in the two stories.

One reason is his writing are still very popular today. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is still being portrayed in many ways even to this day. Another reason Irving would fit in the present day, is the fact he was a transitional figure. He was able to go with both the Enlightenment and the Romanic movement. This showed his versatility.

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.

You wouldn’t think that a poor student and terrible speller would be one of the best american authors in history, but there was something different about this man. Francis Scott Fitzgerald was one of the most unique american authors in a variety of different ways. F. Scott Fitzgerald summed up a crucial era in our own world. Not only did he write 15 astonishing books, but one of them is often required to read in high school or college to this day (The Great Gatsby). He had a captivating early life therefore influencing his writing career breakthroughs, which led to a vital impact on society today.

Washington Irving (1789-1859) was a cultural and diplomatic ambassador to Europe who went to publish his first work, Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon in the year 1820 using Geoffrey Crayon as his pseudonym.This work contained his two most popular short stories, “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy

Washington Irving wrote the books The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, and The Devil and Tom Walker. Out of these three books my favorite one to read was Rip Van Winkle. The book Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving, is about a man named Rip Van Winkle who is adored by the town's children and women but is always fighting with his wife which causes him one day to go hunting in the woods where he ends up helping out a strange man. The man brought him to a weird place where all of them drank this weird alcohol from keg. He then woke up from passing out for twenty years not knowing where he is or how he got there.

Washington Irving, author of Rip van winkle, illustrates the Romantic hero a little differently then Longfellow. Although there are some differences, the overall impression the characters give is similar.

He traveled frequently, and earned many awards in his time. His most famous works are still being reproduced today and even used in schools. Irving was an amazing writer and an interesting one too. Even still today many children and adults continue to discover his works for the first time, and most of them fall entranced into his work. As the very 1st American writer to actually make a living as a writer, he knew that literature was not all good, he once said “ the land of literature is a fairyland to those who view it at a distance, but, like all other landscapes, the charm fades on nearer approach, and the thorns and briars become visible.”. He is one of the first authors to finally say this, and tell others that writing and literature also has its flaws, and is not as good as many other authors portray it to

Irving, like everyone, had several difficulties in his life. The first difficulty Irving had was about living through a writing profession. During Irving’s time in the early 19th century, writing wasn’t a profession in America that could be taken seriously for a living. (Hedges) America’s publications were too small (Washington), foreign publications that were imported to America were too cheap, and American literature hadn’t fully emerged yet. (Hedges) Irving was born just after the Revolutionary War and the nation was just too young. (Dickstein) But Irving’s financially dependent family firm, P.&E. Irving, went bankrupt in 1818 and he had to write for a living. (Washington)

It is my belief that “Rip Van Winkle” is one of the best works ever authored, and I would expect such a great story to come from no one other than Washington Irving

Although Irving would recognized as an author, both in America and aboard, his writing did not begin to support him until his mid-thirties Many literary sources consider Irving to be “America's first internationally recognized author” (519-520). Irving started writing at the age of nineteen, however, his first works were published under different pseudonyms. (“Washington Irving” 141). Using “the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle”, he contributed “satirical letters …to a newspaper owned by his brother Peter” (141). The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent was published “under the pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon” (May 520). The story, “Rip Van Winkle”, was credited as “a posthumous writing of Diedrich Knickerbocker” (Irving 1). Irving decided to “remain a bachelor” (Neider xii), when his fiancée, Matilda Hoffman died in 1809 (“Washington Irving”

Washington Irving was considered to be the first professional man of letters and was influential in the development of short stories. He was the first author to sell his stories abroad other than America. Washington Irving was born and raised in New York City on April 3, 1783, and he was the youngest of eleven children. Washington Irving was the first American to make a living as an author during his career in the early 1800’s. His short stories left a lasting and of most influential work. Irving’s short stories and poems were one of the first folk stories wrote and are still read about today.