There have been many influential and brilliant authors over the years, but one might consider the work of Washington Irving’s to be more prominent than the rest. “Irving’s tale. Often called our nation’s first great story…” (Wyman 219) is only one way to describe Washington Irving’s marvelous stories. Irving shaped, influenced, and brought along many amazing ideas for many amazing authors. One may be able to recognize how Washington Irving’s writings were influenced by his hometown, English essayists such as Addison and Steele, and most importantly art.
Washington Irving was born April third, 1783 in New York, New York. His parents named him after the first president of the United States, George Washington. Therefore lived there for thirty-two
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The writing style of English essayists included humor and more broadly, English romanticism. Many of the well known English authors used humor in their work, in which Washington Irving used a lot of the same types of writing styles in many of his most prominent short stories such as, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle (Anderson, John D.). Along with Irving using the humor of many English authors, he brought along much of English romanticism within his works English romanticism was a movement of literature in England in the late 1700’s to early 1800’s which was a new and more outspoken way of writing. Irving was one of the first American authors to use English Romanticism and learned these ideas when he moved to England to further his career in arts. When he returned to America, the type of writing styles of England came with Irving (Anderson, John D.). His use of humor and English romanticism was enjoyed a lot by people that lived in the United States, which really spread the amazing works he made. The work in which he really illustrates the use of English romanticism is in the Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent., in which he states “England has been constrained to acknowledge that his productions are among the most elegant specimens of English composition” (Irving, Washington, and Sketch 2). That book is all about Irving staying in England and the type of writing styles which is shown within this book. Without Washington Irving’s use of humor and English romanticism in his work, he would not be the well known and amazing author he is
Most Americans probably believe our times are different from Washington Irving’s era. After all, almost 200 years have passed, and the differences in technology and civil liberties alone are huge. However, these dissimilarities seem merely surface ones. When reading “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” I find that the world Irving creates in each story is very familiar to the one in which I grew up. The players may have changed, and institutions have mostly replaced roles traditionally taken on by people, but the overall pieces still fit the rural lifestyle of contemporary America.
Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe were both writers who exemplified the writing style of the Romantic era. Both writers used their great talents to take the reader into the story. For example, Irving, in “Rip Van Winkle”, starts the story by saying, “Whoever has made a courage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill Mountains.” He also involves the reader in the story by taking us into the everyday lives of the Van Winkles and goes into some detail describing Rip’s “business”. Poe also demonstrates his ability to pull the reader into the story. In “The Fall of the House Usher” he uses extensive descriptions of the settings to give the reader the feeling of being there while the story is developing around them. The writers are also similar in the use of tone in their works. Irving’s use of tone in his stories is typically lighthearted, yet dramatic. This is demonstrated in “Rip Van Winkle” when Rip comes back from the “Kaatskills” and is talking to all the people in the town. There, he finds his son and daughter and asks, “Where’s your mother?” By asking this question, Irving implies both curiosity and even fear if Dame Van Winkle is still around. This humorous approach to the subject of Rip’s wife, makes light of ...
With the end of the American Revolution, came an explosion of politicians hoping to influence the young democracy. At the time various political groups were attempting to fashion America politics into their vision of democracy. It was only natural that literature in the country at the time began showing the influence of this newly created democracy. Born in New York in 1783 and named for the American Revolution hero and first president, Washington Irving grew up a nation engulfed in the democratic passions. An atmosphere of this kind of politics could lend the idea that Irving would satire politics of this time. This satirical writing can be seen in the nature of the historical references and symbolic characters Irving uses in “Rip Van Winkle” where he mockingly compares colonial life under British rule to the young democracy that is the United States of his time.
They are the ones that with their unique styles managed to impress people from their society, and more importantly, continued to influence writers many years later. Although some of their works are considered a little out of tone with their time, perhaps controversial, one cannot deny that they are outstanding pieces of work because of their topic and theme. From satire to fiction, Washington Irving created a reputation for being the first American to transcend in America and England. Hawthorne used the events in his life as a source of inspiration, and better yet, his perspective of society and mankind, helped him write great novels Finally Edgard Allan Poe, a man with a troubled soul, managed to write entrancing works full of mystery, crime, and gothic themes. All three men were successful writers and no doubt their works will keep being an inspiration for many more
A lot of people want to know about the writing of Mark Twain. Mark Twain’s writings are widely known around the world. ” English teachers are always saying that Mark Twain is the greatest author in American literature.” Stated Dr. Engel in his lecture called “The Genius of Mark Twain.” Mark Twain has been criticized a lot by people about his writings. Especially his novel called The Adventures of huckleberry Finn. The only reason he received as much criticism as he did for that novel was because one specific word. That word is powerful too. This word can be used by one person in the wrong way and shut down a community, a family, and maybe even a life. That word is the word “nigger.” We are not even going to get into that subject right now because that is not what we are here to talk about. People always
The impact that these two individuals have had on our society has shaped our world to be a better and more fascinating place. They presented to us new concepts of writing along with, intricate ways to communicate their ideas with their audience. Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic style of writing established a whole new view of how literature was viewed and received the attention from readers across the world. Mark Twain had a very light-hearted approach when he wrote his humoristic masterpieces. These authors left an enormous impression in the literary world that is still prevalent in literature today.
Washington Irving was a very ingenious writer; he did not express his stories with Romanticism but with something more creative and dark. Washington Irving has a big role for mood; his stories are creepy, mysterious, and evil. Irving’s stories reflect on the mood, a lot of his work had deep and evil thoughts. “T...
As this semester comes to a quick close I have learned about the lives of many authors, the works of many authors and the variety of impact that they had on the nation. American Literature has had many different impacts on America. The literature has shaped the lives of the American people from generation to generation. The literature has shared the lives of those long before and created traditions to be passed on from family to family. From learning of a woman who changed the idea of women in literature to reading about the life of a man who shaped the nation as president, American Literature has increased my knowledge of the nation that I call home. There were authors I had no knowledge of such as Walt Whitman, authors that widely influenced
During the American Renaissance, writers were put into one of two categories. The categories were the Dark Romantics and the Transcendentalists. Some Dark Romantics include Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving. The Dark Romantics stories included creepy symbols, horrific themes, and psychological effects of guilt and sin. The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving gives a few examples as to why life is meaningless to some people.Humans are not all good, there are some cruel people in this world. The Pit and the Pendulum tells you exactly why.
Although at times it is easy to get carried away with the adventure of a story, noticing the elements a writer has put into his work is very important. In reading “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” you can see both similarities as well as differences of how both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving chose to illuminate their romantic writing styles. The writers both use a mystical woodsy setting with supernatural twists to draw in readers. Underlying you will find the differing romantic themes each writer used, as well as how each writer chose to end their work.
Between the establishments of the first colonies to the Declaration of Independence, American literature evolved and flourished. A large, diverse pool of writers in the population supported its vast variety of genres including political pamphlets, epics, etc.
In his stories the women were not portrayed as nice. Women were usually nagging and would fight with their husbands. Some critics felt that Irving took an anti-feminism approach to his writing. However some critic feel that The Legend of Sleepy Hollow shows importance of marriage. Some critics also argue the quality of his work. Some pieces of his work are considered remarkable. While other pieces of his work are considered not to be that good.
Writers throughout history have always influenced or have been influenced by the era that which they live in. Many famous authors arose during The Age of Discovery and The Romantic Period all of whom had very distinctive writing styles that held true to their era. To find the differences between the two eras, it is important to understand the era at which time the literature was wrote, the writing style, and the subject matter.
Washington Irving was born in New York City in 1783, he always had an appreciation of the land and people from there. Irving was quite opposed to the fact that New York was becoming and would become one of the biggest and most prominent cities in the entire world. Irving seemed to be fonder of the lush foliage and the rolling hills of the city, rather than a crowded city and huge port. Irving conveys his beliefs through Knickerbocker in "A History of New York," in the essay Irving says "Happy would it have been for New Amsterdam could it always have existed in this state of blissful ignorance and lowly simplicity, but alas! the days of childhood are too sweet to last! Cities, like men, grow out of them in time, and are doomed alike to grow into the bustle, the cares, and miseries of the world." (Irving 570). Irving believed that his New York would not be the same if it was given all of the exporting and importing power in the east, which it was and is not the way he wished it was.
Washington Irving presents two of the chosen short stories, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”, by saying they are works of a Diedrich Knickerbocker. The reason he published the stories under that name came from the fact that his brothers were all in the study of law. Irving tried that career out for a while, but the he quickly grew bored. He told his brothers that he wanted to find a different career. When he started writing, he grew embarrassed and decided to change his name in printing.