Comparing Rip Van Winkle And The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

During the nineteenth century, two paralleling movements, Romanticism and Gothicism, intrigued many authors, leading them to use these styles in their works. An author named, Washington Irving, reflected both of these movements in his writing with a strong focus on the Romantic style. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” were two of his most famous works, which portrayed the romantic ideas of this period. The description of the beauty of the natural world and a belief in the goodness of humanity were key romantic themes that make up large elements of both stories. Through the main figurative elements of Figurative Language, Point of View and Imagery, Washington Irving portrays the Romantic style in his pair of works. In
He describes, “a mountain stream [that] was now foaming down it, leaping from rock to rock, and filling the glen with babbling murmurs” (Irving, “Rip Van Winkle, 19). Irving personifies the stream as a child in this instance, describing the stream to have human qualities that are typical of young children. In addition, he uses the sensory details of hearing to allow the reader to feel as if they were in the setting. Because a river cannot jump between rocks, or speak like a human, the element of personification allows the author to use the connection between the two to make a happy mood. Based upon the positive connotation associated with children, readers look favorably and warmly upon the small stream. Another variation of this in Irving’s writing is shown in his story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, the author describes a “spring of the softest and sweetest water, in a little well formed of a barrel… [That] then stole sparkling away through the grass, to a neighboring brook, that babbled along among the Alders and Dwarf willows” (Irving, 1). In addition to being an example of figurative language, Irving uses small instances of