Dark Romanticism In Washington Irving's The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

The dark romantic style came into the public view in the 1820s, and Washington Irving led the movement with his many short stories, including his most famous short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Dark Romanticism was formed during the Romantic Movement. The Romantic Movement formed in Germany and spread to England, and reached America around the year 1821. The definition of Dark Romanticism seems to be interpreted in many way depending on who is defining it. One thing to note is that Romanticism is not defined down to an exact either. It has been said that Romanticism was a period when artists praised their Christian Lord, while others say that Romanticism is something that can not be defined but something that must be felt. As you look in a dictionary you can see that “darkly romantic” is defined by many contradictions; sentimental and evil, visionary and blind, imaginative and hidden, gloomy and poetic, fantastic and sad.

(“Dark Romanticism”)

Characteristics of

dark romantic writings are usually the same. There's usually a big focus on tragedy, and contains the belief of sin and evil. Another popular topic that was mainly used in quite a bit of the dark romantic writings published during this time involved the supernatural: witches, goblins, ghosts, and creatures of the night. One thing to note about the dark romantic writing style is that the author focuses a lot on life and the dark side to human nature. They reveal to us the hardships that everyone goes through but doesn’t say out loud. Dark Romanticism opens the door to the dark side of our minds and everyday life, by a no holding back writing style. (“Dark Romanticism”)

The dark romantic writers were participating in the mid-nineteenth century American Transcendental movement. Transcendentalism originated in New England, and later found its way to America. Transcendentalists, beginners of the Transcendental movement, believed that everyone was pure and every person was a part of God. Some American writers, including Poe (“The Raven”), Hawthorne (“The Scarlet Letter”), and Irving (“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”), found Transcendental beliefs far too optimistic and egotistical. They reacted by changing them into the subgenre that is known as Dark Romanticism. Instead of thinking about the world and nature as pure, happy, and full of life, like the Transcendentalists did; the Dark Romantics saw the natural world as dark,decaying, and mysterious. Lastley, whereas Transcendentalists advocate social reform when most appropriate, writings of Dark Romanticists frequently wrote about individuals that failed in their attempts to make changes for the better.(“ Dark Romantics”)

Washington Irving influenced the early stages of Romanticism in America through his descriptions of natures beauty, his gothic imagery, and his belief that man was neither bad nor good.

With all these traits, his works became a representative of Romanticism as a whole. His well known short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is a classic American Dark Romantic tale. The main character, Ichabod Crane, moves to a small town called Sleepy Hollow, to be a school teacher. There he tries to win the heart of Katrina Van Tassel, one of his students. The town Sleepy Hollow has an old folk tale of a headless horseman. Irving portrays a lot of the dark romantic style of writing while setting the scenes of this short story. An example of this is when he says “... it was dearly purchased by the terrors of his subsequent walk homeward. How often did he shrink with curdling awe at some rushing blast, howling among the trees of a snowy night, in the idea that it was the Galloping Hessian of the

Hollow!”

(“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” page 4)

Not only did Irving lead the romantic movement he also developed the “short story.” The Sketch Book ,written by Irving, was published in 1819 and was seen as the first development of the “short story.” Just as Edgar Allan Poe is seen as “the face” of dark romanticism, he also seen as the creator of the “short story.” Both of these beliefs, although famous, are incorrect. Washington Irving was in fact the original creator of the “short story”, and Poe only developed the “short story” further, this can be easily proven by looking at publication dates. Washington Irving published his first story, The Sketch Book in 1819, while Poe had sent his first couple of short stories to magazines in 1832, those short stories were rejected.

(“Edgar Allan Poe Timeline”)

Following in Washington Irving’s footsteps Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote dark romantic novels. An interesting fact of why Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote mostly about guilt and tragedy, was because he always felt guilty about his ancestor, John Hawthorne. John Hawthorne was a judge for the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. His most famous story, The Scarlet Letter, related to his past. He was ashamed of his ancestors, the Puritans. In this story he writes of the shame and guilt. The Scarlet Letter is about a girl, Hester, who is forced to wear an "A" on her clothing for the sin she committed, adultery. The town hopes she will see this as a symbol of shame, but instead she sees it as a symbol of the rest of the town's shame and foolishness. The “A” becomes a symbol of strength for her. (“Dark Romanticism Notes”)