Washington Irving Research Paper

Romanticism was a movement which started from late 18th century and continued throughout the 19th century in Europe and America. This movement which emphasized on the area of art and literature was basically against classicism, and the Age of Enlightenment. Therefore, most of the authors started to offer emotions, imagination and a new literature that toward nature, humanity instead of focusing on scientific and rational thinking. In other words, they tried to explore the mysteries of nature and supernatural through their sense of emotions and inner feelings. In this among, we perceive many contributions of influential writers such as Washington Irving, James Cooper, and Allan Poe. Washington Irving was born in New York City on April 3, 1783, and best known for his fictional works and short stories including, Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. He is also called the father of American literature, and his works mostly emphasis on nature, imagination and superstitions .In the story of Rip van Winkle, Irvin describes the Kaatskill Mountains as a beauty

He believed in importance of abstract knowing power rather than concrete knowing, based on his notion that our imagination is all free. Another interesting feature of his style is that he has written a lot about unusual and extraordinary subjects, which came from his powerful imagination. For instance, in one of his famous story, The Fall of the House of Usher we can realize the sadness and his inner feeling into the story, ‘During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens”( 654). Therefore, this method of using emotion and imagination rather than reason made him one of the greatest dominant Gothic romanticism writers in his