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“Rip Van Winkle”

“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”

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“Rip Van Winkle”

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

  2. 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

  3. 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.

  4. Let’s Compare…

  5. 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

  6. 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 1st American Short Story • Short stories have elements of a novel

  7. 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

  8. 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

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