Rip Van Winkle Literary Devices

Sreetej Kalapatapu

Core 2

Literary Devises from Rip Van Winkle

Rip Van Winkle, it has been regarded as one of the very best short stories ever written by an American writer. It is based on a well-known explorer by the name of Henry Hudson and his journey through the Catskill Mountains and his encounter with the so called Gnomes that he supposedly found while exploring the mountains. In his story Irvine often incorporates the use of literary devices, to create a more vivid picture for the reader. While reading the story the abundance of literary devices helps grasp the reader and keep them engaged while still delving the content the reader is looking for.

Simile is a literary device to further clarify a situation. In Rip Van Winkle, Irving

uses similes to further clarify situations and make the story more vivid and understandable for the reader. “His children, too, were as ragged and wild as if they belonged to nobody. His son Rip, an urchin begotten in his own likeness, promised to inherit the habits, with the old clothes of his father. He was generally seen trooping like a colt at his mother’s heels, equipped in a pair of his father’s cast-off galligaskins.”(Page 6) In the 1600s young boys housework, and help their father do his tasks. Through adolescence men were expected to tread behind their father and learn manly tasks. With this simple simile Irving is explaining that this young boy often preferred not have much choice in what to do in their lives. They were expected to learn reading and writing, do his mother to his father. Although something such as this is not uncommon in current day, in the 1600s when Rip preferred his mother this was quite unusual. Irving choice of vocabulary is appreciated by the reader as it paints a clear picture in the readers head while still being understandable to the reader.
Irving uses an abundance of literary devices in this story, not just similes. Mr. Irving also uses metaphors to relate the current situation to another for ease of understanding for the reader. “There was a drop of comfort, at least, in this intelligence.”
As Rip Van Winkle was talking, Irving incorporates this metaphor to tell the reader that this man’s words, in his so-called “intelligence” there something in it that made the conversation more comfortable, and the human race when comforted feels better about talking with an unknown person. The key to a significant metaphor that will be appreciated by readers is on that delivers the message in a clear and concise way. Many writers are masters of this skill and Irving is not an exception, as he delivers this metaphor, the reader immediately understands and is able to have a clear understanding of what Irving is saying in the story.
Irving is a genius and a master of literature, and he is able to accomplish that by using interesting vocabulary and literary devices. Now, a redundant abundance of literary devices is ludicrous, but the use of literary devices in Rip Van Winkle is impeccable.