Washington Irving
Washington Irving, the father of literature? Washington Irving dedicated his whole life to literature, and as a consequence of that, he is now a cherished and beloved author to many. Irving was absolutely an amazing author, and one of the first well known authors at that, and throughout his life he wrote many masterpieces to support this conviction. Irving was, without a doubt, one of the few first “fathers of literature”.
Washington Irving was born April 3rd 1783, and was named after who could be considered his role model, George Washington(Biography). Irving lived a very occupied life. As a young child he lived in a crowded house with his 10 siblings. Frowned upon by his father; Irving wasn’t a very “education inspired”
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student as a child. He lived a carefree life for quite a while, and fell in love at a young age to Matilda Hoffman. Irving enjoyed travelling, his older brothers decided since he wasn't going to go to college and become well educated like themselves, they would pay for him a tour of France and Italy. After finishing his tour he came home and began studying to pursue the career of a lawyer. However, his “fairytale” life soon came to an end when Hoffman died a sudden death in 1809(Britannica). He soon moved away to Washington DC in 1811 and began to focus completely on his writing. Irving lived a very successful life in his writing career. He had actually made his writing debut in a few articles called the Letters of Pseudonym, which he had submitted to his brother Peter’s newspaper company. Before he moved away from his family a few of his brothers helped him publish a book he wrote called the Salmagundi, which was a very popular book of fun short pieces based off the life in the city. When he arrived in Washington he realized he didn't really have any source of income, and (Biography) he was in a stage of writer's block. Irving then decided for a brief time to join the military during the war of 1812. In 1815 he moved to England to try and help his corrupted and failing family import/export business, it didn’t go well. When that failed, he decided to write the Sketch book of Geoffrey Crayon, which was published in around 1818-1819 and contained two of his most popular stories, The legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. The Sketch book made a magnificent impact on his career, and he became famous across both England and the United States. Of course great authors such as he didn't always have the amazing praised pieces of literature, when Irving traveled to Germany and France, he wrote a book called the Tales of a Traveller, was a failure (Encyclopedia). He then continued to work on both amazing, and not so amazing pieces of literature over the next couple of decades. Before his death, he wrote a biography on George Washington (his “hero”) in 1859 before his dedicated life came to an end on November 28, 1859. Throughout history Washington Irving has been called the “Father of American literature”.
This is truly a conflicted title for him considering the fact that most of his works were not written or even thought of in America. For this exact reason it can be difficult to find any critics that will call him “the Father of American Literature”. He is in no doubt an amazing author who had basically started American short stories for future authors, but the problem is the simple fact that he wasn’t in America when he created his stories, and his parents were “Scottish-English Immigrants”(Biography), so is it even feasible to call his the “father of American literature”? His other titles however, can be very easily explained and obvious. Irving was considered the “first American man of letters” because of all of his letters he published into his brother’s newspaper, and the very early series of Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. that he published in 1802-1803. Irving is nonetheless, known abroad as the the American man of letters(Encyclopedia), and at home in the United States, people still to this day adore his literary works.
Irving was a man of many proportions. He was an author, traveller, historian, and diplomat. He wrote hundred of amazing short stories, books, and just stunning pieces of literature throughout his life. Irving was a “genius dropout”, the way he managed to become this well known and loved without even finishing his education is astonishing. To conclude, the original question “Is Washington Irving the Father of American Literature?” is obvious. Irving is undeniably a father of literature, even if “american literature” is debatable. He was an incredible author that will forever be loved, and his work will never
fade.
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.
There has not been a serious work written on George Rogers Clark in nearly fifty years, and in schooling he is completely neglected. All of this is wrong, Clark was very important to the Revolutionary War victory and even more vital to opening the gateway to the West.
So, they eventually moved West towards the canal to grow other crops. Due to its convenience and significant importance, new towns and cities formed along the edges of the canal which transformed the “Trans-Allegheny” west into a highly populated area. This migration to the west brought new forms of culture, increasing America’s cultural nationalism. The increase in cultural nationalism brought new forms of literature and new people to teach it. In 1820, Noah Webster, an American writer, wrote the Webster's New American Dictionary. This dictionary consisted of every word known at that time and ultimately increased the knowledge of other writers such as Washington Irving. Washington Irving wrote the famous stories Rip Van Winkle; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The Sketch Book. Also, the cultural nationalism brought upon the idea of poetry in America. The first American poet to gain recognition was William Cullen Bryant, who wrote Thanatopsis in 1817. To conclude, the American nationalism brought upon new forms of cultural and economic success and ultimately strengthened the American
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.
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.
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 ...
by his community. Examining the text we find ample examples of both. Irving describes his main character as
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.
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.
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.
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
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
The American canon has had many different and unique authors inducted ed into it. Since many different authors have been recognized to be part of the canon, it only makes sense that it has had just as many different influences. Of this surplus of authors, many are very highly acclaimed and rightly so. Authors that typically come to mind when talking about the American canon are Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and many other familiar names. Though these great authors had a huge influence and definitely belong in the American canon, there are many less-known authors that have helped form the American canon that is present today. One of these authors is Chaim Potok. Though Chaim Potok is fairly well known and has been recognized
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.