Romantic Elements In Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book

As one of the representatives of the American Romanticism, Washington Irving contributes significantly to the development of American literature in early American literary history. Influenced and inspired by the Romantic Movement and the Romantic writers such as Sir Walter Scott, Washington Irving presented many a great book to readers on both sides of the Atlantic among which is the famous The Sketch Book of Geoffery Crayon Gent.Being one of the precursors of American Romanticism, the author instills The Sketch Book with Romantic ideals and elements, such as worship of nature, the interests in the past, the emphasis of imagination and the use of symbols. By analyzing the texts, the author of this thesis tries to study and discuss these Romantic elements in Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book. This thesis focuses primarily on the Romantic elements revealing the social conflicts and unveiling the author’s attitude and expectation through the study of the Romantic elements. Besides the introduction and conclusion, the thesis is composed of four chapters. Chapter I mainly deals with Romanticism and the Romantic elements, introducing the Romantic elements which are to be discussed in other chapters. Chapter II offers an analysis of the worship of nature as a Romantic element in The Sketch Book, especially in the two most critically acclaimed short stories "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Chapter II discusses the author’s preference to nostalgia, and the author’s interests in the ancient European culture and tradition. Through the meditation about the past, the author shows his view to the present and future. Chapter IV talks about the imaginary and the Gothic from two aspects the localization of European folklores and the devices demonstrating the imaginary and the Gothic. Chapter V mainly deals with the symbols in the book and the symbolic functions of the Romantic elements.