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written for college American Romantic Period class

This essay is about the selection of five characteristics of American Romanticism present in Washington Irving's The Sketch Book. I will try to show how man and nature are the chief subjects in "Rip Van Winkle," "Westminster Abbey" shows Irving's interest in the medieval past, that expressive theory of literature is shown in "The Mutability of Literature," and in the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow", shows how Irving's subjective point of view got in the way of the story, and how the story appeals to the reader's imagination.

In the story, "Rip Van Winkle," the character Rip Van Winkle is the chief subject and the Kaatskill Mountains in the Hudson River Valley is the chief nature subject. The Kaatskill Mountains are part of the Appalachian chain and west of the Hudson River. Irving says of them, "When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; but, sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory (pg 38)." Later on in the story, before Rip sleeps for 20 years, Irving describes what Rip saw as he was sitting down on the ground, "He saw at a distance the lordly Hudson, far, far below him, moving on its silent but majestic course, with the reflection of a purple cloud or the sail of a lagging bark here and there sleeping on its glassy bosom, and at long last losing itself in the blue highlands. On the other side he looked down into a deep mountain glen, wild, lonely, and shagged, the bottom filled with fragments from the impending cliffs, and scarcely lighted by the reflected rays of the setting sun. (43)"

Rip Van Winkle is the main character of the story, described as a "simple and good natured man . . . . a kind neighbor, and an obedient, henpecked husband. (pg 39)" Rip was a favorite amongst the townsfolk because he helped everyone with their activities, but had, "an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor. (39)" He refused to work on his own house and property because everything would fall apart no matter what he did. He felt like all his wife did was nag him and felt like his dog, Wolf, was the only one on his side. Once Rip awoke after 20 years and found out everything had completely changed, he only cared about not being yelled at his by his wife, and the story says,

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