Watch Your Head

I read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow instead of Rip Van Winkle, for no particular reason. I liked this story a lot though, it was very witty. It was a bit wordy though... Each sentence was easily three lines long. Part of the reason there were so many words it because Washington Irving is a very, very descriptive writer, which ties in with American Romanticism. Irving used vivid imagery to describe his story throughout the entire text. If you use your imagination when you read Irving's description of Ichabod Crane, you might find yourself laughing out loud. The picture Irving paints is utterly and ridiculously hilarious; "He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat on top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and along snipe nose, so that looked like a weather-cock perched upon his spindle neck , to tell which way the wind blew." Obviously this is not meant to be taken literally (I seriously doubt that Ichabod's arms actually stuck a mile out of his sleeves) , it's meant to be read with imagination!
Another example of American Romanticism that is in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is the glorification of nature. Irving opens his story with a long and heartfelt description of Sleepy Hollow and the surrounding land. He goes into great detail when he describes the peacefulness of nature, "A small brook glides through it, with just murmur enough to lull one to repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail, or tapping of a woodpecker, is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the uniform tranquility." Most of the people living in America at this time were living in filthy cities, so you can imagine how much they would long for a quiet valley like the one Irving describes.
Lastly, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a classic example of the underdog story. Ichabod is somewhat of a loser. If you read the physical description above, you know that Ichabod Crane was not really what I would call a good looking man. Irving compares him to a scarecrow at one point. Ichabod also seems to have limited social skills... Extremely limited. He makes a fool of himself quite a few times and doesn't even notice once. It seemed to me that he was sort of the village idiot. So, in the end of the story after he has been turned down by his lady-love, attacked by the "Headless Horseman", and fled the town never to return, you find out that he is now a moderately accomplished politician. Ichabod might have been unrefined, but he went on to make something of himself anyways. This exemplifies American Romanticism in the sense that Americans were viewed as sloppy and undignified by the English. So with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Irving was saying that even though someone might not be well mannered, doesn't mean that they can't do well.