Washington Irving

How do Washington Irving’s writings exemplify Romanticism?

                Romantic writings are not what one initially thinks they are about. They are not about falling in love. Instead, they are about an individual’s journey. One of the first characteristics of Romanticism is a switch from urban to rural settings (http://www.odessa.edu/dept/english/dsmith/rom.lit.char.pdf). This is apparent in Irving’s writings as shown by detailed description of the land such as the Catskill Mountains and the farmland that Katrina lives on.

                Romantic writing is also very supernatural, meaning that some events are magical (http://www.odessa.edu/dept/english/dsmith/rom.lit.char.pdf). For example, Rip Van Winkle sleeps for twenty years, wakes up, and realizes that the colonies are now free from British rule. Ichabod Crane is chased by a headless horseman and never seen again. While these events are not very realistic, they add intrigue to the stories and help further develop the morals.

                The Byronic Hero is also a very prominent character in Romantic writing. The Byronic hero is intellectual, has self respect, is a wanderer or socially isolated because he does not adhere to society’s norms, and can be sensitive and rebellious. This hero is different from the stereotypical hero because the stereotypical hero is prideful, but the Byronic hero is not (http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/sfarris/Files/AP%20Lit%20Files/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Characteristics%20of%20the%20Byronic%20Hero.pdf). Both Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane represent the Byronic hero. Rip Van Winkle at first is not socially isolated, but becomes physically isolated when he falls asleep in the mountains. When he returns, he is socially isolated because his wife has died and he does not recognize any of the townspeople. He is a nice guy and helps out all his neighbors, but is rebellious because he does not do any of the work that his wife wants him to do. Ichabod Crane is a very smart teacher who wanders from one student’s house to the next. He is sensitive and will believe almost anything that people tell him.

                The final characteristic of Romanticism is a focus on the individual rather than the community; other characters are present in the literature but are referenced as to how the main character feels about them through discussion from the third person point of view (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/romanticism-characteristics-of-romanticism.html). Rip Van Winkle is a story about how he slept through the American Revolution, not about how his village dealt with the American Revolution. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow focuses on Ichabod Crane’s incident with the Headless Horseman instead of all of the supposed stories of the townsmen’s encounters with this terror. Washington Irving’s works are true examples of Romantic literature.

 For more information on the Romantic period see this video: