How Did Washington Irving Influence His Work

487 Words1 Page

Washington Irving: An Inspiring, Amazing Author Washington Irving was born on April 3, 1783 in New York City as the youngest of 11 children of a wealthy family. He was educated to become a lawyer, although his real interest was to be a writer. His career as a writer started writing essays under the pseudonym “Jonathan Oldstyle.” He also served as a military aide in the U.S. Army. One major experience in his life that has influenced his writing was a woman with whom he was engaged to be married, Matilda Hoffman, died at the age of seventeen of pneumonia. Washington Irving was one of the best authors due to his fascinating short stories, relevant themes, and impact on society.

In fact, one of his most acclaimed works is, “The Broken Heart”,
As a result of Irving´s prodigious skill and writing, he dramatically impacted society, one critic says ¨Irving is known as ¨The Father of American Literature¨, as the first American writer to make his living primarily through his creative work… the first American acclaimed by the English literary establishment as worthy of recognition was seen as our literary declarer of Independence.¨ Irving published his stories for the mere pleasure of writing them. Irving started out becoming a lawyer, but his true passion since the beginning was writing, and as a result of his literature ¨thousands of Americans all writing stories based in some American environment and centered around an American character with a touch of an American theme.¨

Before I investigated Washington Irving, I pictured him as a characterless author referring to his works misjudging him. On the contrary, now afterwards I feel very different about him. I elucidate Washington Irving as an amusing writer due to his fantastic works, including ¨The Sketch Book¨, ¨History of New York¨. ¨Salmagundi¨. ¨The Broken Heart¨. and ¨Life of Washington¨. Without a doubt Washington Irving is one of the best authors of all time in

Show More
Related

  • How Does Washington Irving Use Direct Characterization Of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

    449 Words  | 1 Pages

    Throughout Irving’s story, he used characterization, irony, the dreams, and other literacy devices to bring The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to life for Irving’s audience.

    Read More

  • Strange And Exaggerated Characters In Rip Van Winkle

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Washington Irving’s work “Rip Van Winkle,” Irving demonstrates all characteristics of an American Mythology rather humorously. These characteristics affect the story attracting the attention of readers and impacting the reader’s experience of the story by relishing America’s unique attributes and values. In “Rip Van Winkle,” Irving incorporates attributes of American Mythology by setting the story in exciting pastimes, filling the story with strange and exaggerated characters, and featuring magical mysterious events.

    Read More

  • Jean Toomer- An African American Writer

    1177 Words  | 3 Pages

    When he was fifteen years old his mother died from appendicitis. From fifteen years of age to his college years he lived in an all-white neighborhood. From 1914-1917, he shifted from many colleges and academic courses of study as well as he changed his cultural identity growing up. He studied physical education, agriculture, and literature at a total of six colleges and universities from Wisconsin to New York. Although he never completed a degree, his educational pursuits laid the foundation for his writing career. He had the knowledge of philosophy and psychology. He attempted to write when he was a youth, but he made a choice to pursue a literary career in 1919. After he published Cane he became part of New York literary circles. He objected both rivalries that prevailed in the fraternity of writers and to attempts to promote him as a black writer (Clay...

    Read More

  • Contemporary Rural America Captured in Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

    1761 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Irving's Portrayal of Women in His Novels

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Washington Irving vs Edgar Allan Poe

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

  • Rip’s Dependence on Society for Self-Identity

    1323 Words  | 3 Pages

    by his community. Examining the text we find ample examples of both. Irving describes his main character as

    Read More

  • irving Rips Satire

    1294 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, And Edgar Allan Poe

    1201 Words  | 3 Pages

    When a writer starts his work, most often than not, they think of ways they can catch their reader’s attention, but more importantly, how to awake emotions within them. They want to stand out from the rest and to do so, they must swim against the social trend that marks a specific society. That will make them significant; the way they write, how they make a reader feel, the specific way they write, and the devotion they have for their work. Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgard Allan Poe influenced significantly the American literary canon with their styles, themes, and forms, making them three important writers in America.

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Rip Van Winkle And The Sleepy Hollow

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever imagined being asleep in the forest for twenty years, coming back home and not knowing what has gone on all those years of your absence? Rip Van Winkle went through that, and had to come back home and face some real changes. The author Washington Irving has some interesting characters whom he puts in his short stories. Irving puts some characters in his short stories to reflect on some of his life. For example, Irving has similarities between Rip Van Winkle being asleep in the forest 20 years and Irving was in Europe for seventeen writing short stories and being the governor’s aid and military secretary. These two situations are similar, because they both didn’t know what they were going to come back too and were gone for such a long period of time. Irving does put some of his own life into his short stories and with a reason for his self-reflective works.

    Read More

  • Diedrich Knickerbocker

    1580 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • How Did Washington Irving Keep Lindenwold High School

    242 Words  | 1 Pages

    I believe that if Lindenwold High School was to get rid of the three authors Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, and Washington Irving, I feel as if they should keep Washington Irving in the education rotation. I believe this because he has shaped the English language with two of his short stories , Rip Van Winkle and The Devil and Tom Walker. For example, in the story The Devil and Tom Walker, Irving uses VIVID and PHENOMENAL vocab words such as propitious which means suggesting a good chance for success, ostentation which means an object for which is used to impress, and avarice which means high greed for wealth. Also, in the story, The Devil and Tom Walker, the imagery was simply SUPERB for example, from the lines 24-27 you can see the old forlorn

    Read More

  • An Allegorical Reading of Rip Van Winkle

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    Irving uses many other images and scenes within this story that could be delved into further. However, I believe these three main points, along with the knowledge of the political climate of the times, shows Irving’s genius in representing both sides of the political gamut. Irving was able to cater to both the British and the Colonist without offending either side. Irving’s genius was that even though this was an allegory of its time, its elements could represent either or both sides of the conflict during the Revolution. This dual representation in an allegorical story ensured his success, in both countries as a writer. It allowed Irving to make a political statement without taking sides.

    Read More

  • Lincoln's Impact On American Literature Essay

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Mark Twain's Influence on American Literature

    1193 Words  | 3 Pages

    Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pseudonym Mark Twain, has been central to American literature for over a century. His seemingly effortless diction accurately exemplified America’s southern culture. From his early experiences in journalism to his most famous fictional works, Twain has remained relevant to American writing as well as pop culture. His iconic works are timeless and have given inspiration the youth of America for decades. He distanced himself from formal writing and became one of the most celebrated humorists. Mark Twain’s use of the common vernacular set him apart from authors of his era giving his readers a sense of familiarity and emotional connection to his characters and himself.

    Read More

More about How Did Washington Irving Influence His Work

Open Document