“Rip Van Winkle” Romanticism, Washington Irving, and His Works

Romanticism Romanticism is the opposite of what America’s literature HAS been It is a reaction to classicism or the “age or reason” Instead of reason and control, the literature focuses on emotion, imagination, and self-revelation NATURE is a huge influence and it is viewed as “wild,” “beautiful,” and “uncorrupt.” ▫Nature is where the individual goes to get away from a corrupt society ▫Nature’s wild beauty sparks imagination ▫Nature cannot be controlled and is thus our refuge

A turning from the “Age of Reason” Romanticism begins in Germany in 1770 after the publishing of Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther The ideals of Romanticism then spread to England and do not make their way to the U.S. until around 1830 Transcendentalism is a movement within Romanticism. Not all Romantics are transcendentalists. Transcendentalists believe we can commune with the divine only when we become “self-reliant” and independent from the ways of society.

Let’s Compare… Romanticism “Age of Reason” Emotional Reasonable & Practical Individualism Social Conformity Revolutionary Conservative Loves Solitude & Nature Loves Public, Urban Life Fantasy/Introspection External Reality The Particular The Universal Individual Thought/Musings Objective Fact Satisfaction of Desire Desire Repressed Organic Mechanical Creative Energy/Power Form Exotic Mundane Imagination/Intuition Reason/Calculation Spontaneity Control

Aspects of Romantic Literature Shift from urban focus to a rural one: country life Shift from scientific and formal to personal Emphasis on imagination, intuition, and the individual Emotions over Reason Love of nature Respect/focus on the common Man Includes Supernatural, Gothic, Mystical elements Rebellion and Revolution (esp. regarding human rights, oppression, etc…) Focus on introspection, melancholy, and sadness

Washington Irving An early romantic – he experiments with romantic ideas First American writer to be lauded outside of the US Wrote some of the earliest forms of modern short stories: Wrote the 1 st American Short Story Short stories have elements of a novel

Washington Irving, cont… Wrote both “Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle.” Both are part of a larger “sketchbook” of his works Creates a persona (Deidrich Knickerbocker) in his writing to allow for a “suspension of disbelief,” and thus gives credibility to the tale Geoffrey Crayon adds satirical humor as the narrator of the story

The Romantic Hero Usually the protagonist Rejected by society/non-conventional in their ideas and ways of life On a quest (usually for himself, but he ends up doing something even more grand). Innocent, intuitive – could even be alienated or disillusioned Introspective Fond of nature Sometimes distrustful of women