Raillery Romanticism In Washington Irving's The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

Raillery Romanticism

What would it be like to live in a world of supernatural; to live in a world where knights fight monsters in order to win the heart of their girl? Knights, monsters, dragons, damsels in distress and mystical beings were all common elements used in the Romanticism literature. This Romantic style of writing, used from the 18th century through the early part of the the 19th century was defined as; “An artistic movement that emphasized and explored human emotions, found pleasure in and awe at the natural world, and was fascinated with stories of the past, the supernatural, creativity, imagination, aloneness, and human struggles” (Somerville 349). An author, by the name of Washington Irving, sought to create stories other

Pitiful Ichabod and his scrawny horse are the opposite of the usual strong hero and his handsome steed portrayed in the typical Romanticism literature of Irving’s day. Washington Irving pokes fun at Romanticism by making a ridicules “knight” who is unable to defeat the “monster”, or win the hand of his girl. The frightening “headless horseman” encounter that Ichabod experiences is an example of an imagination gone wild when there was a perfectly rational explanation. Why would Washington Irving want to poke fun of Romanticism? He did this in order to create a story that would give the reader the opportunity to laugh. The Romanticism literature was not meant to be humorous. Even with the unrealistic heroes, amazing steeds and the heavy use of supernatural, the literature of this time was meant to be taken seriously. He recognized how unrealistic these stories were and wanted to write a story that was different from the typical writing genre of his time. He wanted his readers to smile, and maybe even laugh out loud. Washington Irving wanted his readers to see how silly he thought the Romanticism style of writing