LITR 4232 American Renaissance 2008
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LITR 4232
American Renaissance
2008
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Introduction: Option X: Formal / literary option
Assignment: Discuss how American Renaissance authors use one or more elements of Romanticism to represent aspects of the American experience, landscape, and / or people.
I chose to explore how the gothic and sublime are expressed in both Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Michael Luna’s Research Project 2002
Washington Irving turns the forest into the typical gothic castle. An aspect of the English gothic that Irving keeps is the use of ghosts and superstition. In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow he makes the forest seem alive and makes the shadows play all sorts of tricks to Ichabod's superstition filled mind.
Midterm Sample 2003
Gothic and sublime elements are present throughout Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The passage that I am focusing on is where Ichabod is riding by Major Andre’s Tree. The gothic and sublime nature of this passage works to depict a scene that horrifies as well as creates beautiful imagery. The description of Major Andre’s Tree brings to light the gothic element of nature telling the story and having a morbid past. The idea is that superstition brings the tree to life and gives spiritual significance to nature. This passage converts the natural beauty of the forest into a scary, dark and mysterious layer. The sublime aspects of this passage are presented when describing the tree. “Its limbs were gnarled and fantastic…twisting down almost to the earth, and arising again into the air.” By pairing the adjective gnarled (which means deformed and grotesque) with the word fantastic the image of the tree becomes a strange awe-inspiring piece of nature. The rising of the limbs from the ground alludes to the idea of the tree co-existing between two worlds: one, which is “earthy” and natural and the other eerie, and supernatural. The mystery and intrigue surrounding this tree alludes to the idea that the tree itself may be alive or dangerous in some way. [JN]
Midterm Sample Answer 2004
One of the first American writers, Washington Irving, had his stories teeming with the romantic part of nature, both the sublime and the gothic. Both Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow dealt with nature in contrasting ways. In Rip Van Winkle, the mountains surrounding his town were writ in a sublime fashion. These precipices were majestic and beautiful, but could bring bad weather at any point. These mountains were structured and elegant, but were the source of Rip’s twenty year slumber. These mountains brought both pleasure and pain to those who surround it.
Conclusion: In both stories, Irving uses gothic and sublime elements to create a memorable experience for the reader. From gnarled fantastic trees to vast expanses of mountains, these stories are full of beautiful examples.