Why Sleepy Hollow And Rip Van Winkle Have Lasted So Long

3 Pages 633 Words

Joe Smith
Why Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle Have Lasted So Long


First it’s important to note that the two writings I’m analyzing here are based on legends regarding early Dutch settlements in America. It’s amazing how long these two tales have survived, considering that many other tales of the time have not. Is it perhaps because they stand out amongst all the other legends? Actually, I don’t find these two legends any different from all the other legends I’ve read before. So then, what is it that sets these two legends apart? The answer to this question can be found in the style that they were told in. Anyone who has read these two texts will attest to the fact that they were both told in a style that changed all styles. To someone at the time of first publication, it was quite possible to mistake it and its finely detailed settings as near fact! This is because in both Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle, numerous layers of storytelling are presented, giving the subtle feeling that what the reader is experiencing is more a truth than a legend, not mere fiction. These layers allow Irving’s ideas, often disguised as being that of a persona's, to manifest into more of an authoritative writing, than the relating of a mere legend.

In Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle there’s the persona of late Diedrich Knickerbocker. To increase the effect of this layer, subtitles, such as “Found among the Papers of the Late Diedrich Knickerbocker” (Sleepy Hollow) and “A Posthumous Writing of Diedrich Knickerbocker,”(Rip Van Winkle) are often added. Now I’m sure that everyone in our English class knows that Mr. Knickerbocker is a fictitious character created by Irving, but I wonder if the old gullible people back then knew that. Even if they find the legend of Rip Van Winkle quite hard to swallow, (as do I) it is sworn accurate in a note from Diedrich Knickerbocker!

The emotions and character of Rip Van Winkle and Ic...