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(2017
midterm assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2017 #2b: Short Essay (Favorite Term) |
LITR 4328 |
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Christa Van Allen
Undisturbed by the Rush of the Passing Current
The strange and the beautiful often intertwine in romantic literature,
and in the most extreme cases the scenes are labeled as “sublime”. Weird as it
might sound, I was unfamiliar with the weight of this word until taking American
Renaissance. I had heard it used occasionally, but it does not appear to have
aged well, as the term’s use has fallen out of style in favor of words that fall
to either side of its natural definition. For something to be sublime it has to
inspire awe at its beauty, but present an almost imperceptible danger mixed into
it and be provided in a grand lens. In modernity, we tend to use words like
horrible or terrific and they have a grand scale, but they reside solidly in the
realm of either danger or awe, never both.
There exists a passage early on in
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow which I feel captures the essence of the
sublime. It is appropriately grand with its metaphors of the beautiful New York
landscape, it appeals to the romantic nature of nostalgia, and yet it is in
rereading that the edge of danger is made clear.
“I
mention this peaceful spot with all possible laud
for it is in such little retired Dutch
valleys, found here and there embosomed in the great State of New York, that
population, manners, and customs remain fixed, while the great torrent of
migration and improvement,
which is making such incessant changes in other parts of this restless country,
sweeps by them unobserved.
They are like those little nooks of still water, which border a rapid stream,
where we may see the straw and bubble riding quietly at anchor, or slowly
revolving in their mimic harbor, undisturbed
by the rush of the passing current. Though many years have elapsed since
I trod the
drowsy shades of
Sleepy Hollow, yet I question whether I should not still
find the same trees and the same families vegetating in its sheltered bosom”
[(6) The Sublime within stagnation]
There is something siren-like in this passage. It sets our stage for the
gothic to come, but it is clever in a way that Irving may not have initially
seen. Amid the sweet whispers of peace and praise exists the single fact that
Sleepy Hollow is frozen in time.
Everything is fixed in place: how many people live there, the way of speaking,
and the cultural practices. By virtue of years passing and a new generation
taking the town’s reins, logically some things must shift, even incrementally.
Instead the world seems to have passed them by in pursuit of progress, never
once stepping into their little “nook of still water” to send ripples over its
surface. No one comes until Ichabod, and once he is gone, life in
Sleepy Hollow goes on as though he
was never there to begin with.
Therein lies the disquieting edge. Beautiful and serene as it may seem,
Sleepy Hollow’s beauty became
threatening when Ichabod sought to interfere with the way it had always been.
His dreams of progress, selling his father-in-law’s land and riding out west
with Katrina Van Tassel would force a change in the traditional families of the
valley. And so, even before the Headless Horseman makes his appearance the
landscape shifts to match his hostility as seen in the second passage I have
chosen:
“Just
at this moment a plashy tramp by the side of the bridge caught the sensitive ear
of Ichabod. In the dark shadow of the grove, on the margin of the brook, he
beheld something huge, misshapen and towering. It stirred not, but seemed
gathered up in the gloom, like some gigantic monster ready to spring upon the
traveler” [(59)
The Sublime within the Gothic]
Here the more traditional use of the sublime is executed. There is
something supernatural implied to be happening in this small village. Something
that keeps it locked away and something that drives off anything that will
disturb its peace. Sleepy Hollow, on
repeated readings, almost seems alive. There is a magnetic pull that this folk
tale has always had on me, I am at once drawn to its beautiful atmosphere and
repulsed by the idea of a spectral guard that indiscriminately hunts down
disrupters. Understanding better what it means to be sublime has enriched my
perception of other stories I have sampled and I have seen how they are still
influenced by the classic technique explored here.
I have read this particular story numerous times, but it brings me great
joy to know that I might still discover a new motif hidden in its words. My
family holds this tale close to heart as a piece of our Dutch heritage and I
have been told on many accounts that Miss Van Tassel is based on someone from
our family that lived in old North Tarry Town centuries ago. So on some level I
wonder, would I be allowed to make waves?
