SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF IRVING 1. Describe the difference between the America of Franklin's day and that of Irving's. 2. Had literature in America begun to assume a national character when Irving began to write? 3. What did Irving's first literary ventures attempt to represent? 4. By what work did he first gain literary reputation? 5. Why was Irving so strongly English in his sympathies and tastes? 6. Describe the results of his seventeen years' residence in England. 7. What was Irving's special literary gift, and what were his limitations? 8. What did Irving produce during his residence in America from 1832 to 1842 ? 9. What were the fruits of the final period of Irving's literary production? RIP VAN WINKLE Ригрове. That Irving had any deep ethical purpose in writing this story is not certain. Some commentators read a lesson of the immortality of the soul into this tale of a man awakening after a sleep of twenty years' duration. What is certain, however, is that Irving's imagination seized upon the old German legend of Peter Klaus (mentioned in the introduction, page 5) because of its supremely interesting mingling of the human with the supernatural element, and because of its rich dramatic possibilities. With unerring taste and judgment he transferred it to an American setting, and adapted it to an old Dutch legend con cerning the periodic return to the Kaatskills of Hendrick Hudson and his Crew. Method. The story comes to us, therefore, a delightful and finished specimen of the short story of the simple narrative and descriptive type, and it appeals with enduring force to the element of curiosity in every one's nature. Aside from its theme, its chief claims to literary excellence are its simplicity of structure, its mellow humor, easy grace of style, shrewd touches of characterization, and, above all, the figure it presents of Rip himself — the incorrigible yet lovable and sympathetic village ne'er-do-well. Remarks. The story does not require elaborate analysis, but in reading it, the student should be especially alert to the qualities mentioned above. Note, also, the added interest which Irving gives his story in marking the change from the old colonial régime to the time when the United States had become an independent nation. Finally, note this significant fact: Although Irving did not invent the main plot of Rip Van Winkle, yet he was the means of making it immortal. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS What other and greater author than Irving has achieved the same result, in even higher degree, with borrowed material? What great general truth regarding literary production does this confirm? For what reason did Irving humorously attribute the authorship of Rip Van Winkle to Diedrich Knickerbocker? Purpose. THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW Irving's purpose, in writing this story, was plainly a humorous one. He deftly uses his tale as a vehicle for satirizing good-naturedly the superstitious beliefs of the old Dutch settlers of New York State, although it cannot be asserted that this was his principal motive in writing it. His subordinate purpose may well have been, however, to deal a vigorous blow at greed, conceit, and superstition, as he had observed it in human nature. Method. (a) Irving selects, in the person of his hero, Ichabod Crane, a grotesque figure, whose physical and mental peculiarities he draws with broad and incisive humor, and whose adventures he relates in mockheroic style. (b) Ichabod's greed, gluttony, and ambitious scheming for a wealthy wife are in equal proportion to his intense superstition, and all receive at last their rightful punishment. The story is unfolded in a series of pictures Remarks. that could hardly be surpassed for humorous and graphic power: The drowsy, spell-bound atmosphere of Sleepy Hollow; Ichabod himself, one of the enduring creations of humorous literature; the inimitable pictures of old Dutch village life, customs and superstitions, of Ichabod's besetting sin, gluttony, and of the farm and mansion of a typical wealthy Dutch farmer; the burly, roystering blade, Brom Bones; the ludicrous figures of Ichabod and his horse going forth to the quilting-bee; the warm, mellow description of a golden, autumn day by the Hudson; the quilting-bee and its culinary glories; Ichabod's dismal start for home, after being rejected by the lady of his choice; his superstitious terrors; his pursuit by the Headless Horseman, and the thrilling climax in which the Horseman throws his head at Ichabod. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS To indicate the verbal brilliancies of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" would necessitate its quoting almost word for word. In reading it, note especially the familiarity with nature shown by the author, and the abundance and aptness of his imagery. Note, also, that Irving achieves some of his finest effects by the use of irony. One of his cleverest devices is to convey information, not by assertion, but by ironic suggestion: As (a) when he suggests (does not assert) that Brom Bones had impersonated the Headless Horseman: (b) when he merely suggests that Katrina had rejected Ichabod. Give other examples of this use of suggestion in the story. Give five examples of felicitous description of nature. Give five examples of exaggeration for humorous effect (as "hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves"). Give five examples of effective imagery. LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG SPEECH Short as it is, the Gettysburg Speech will repay careful and repeated readings. It is a masterpiece of English, and a marvel of condensed eloquence. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS What is the spirit that most impresses you in the Gettysburg Speech? What idea of Lincoln's character does it give you? How would you characterize its language—as in any way rhetorical, involved, or pompous ? In what does the literary merit of its style and structure consist? What impression of Lincoln's education does it convey? Is it such a speech as we would ordinarily expect from a man of so little formal schooling as Lincoln ? How does its eloquence compare with the eloquence of longer and more pretentious speeches? Notice how effectively Lincoln uses antithesis and parallel. Specify the instances of such use. Notice, also, how unexpected and noble a turn he gives to the purpose of the "dedication." BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HAWTHORNE 1. What was Hawthorne's habit with respect to keeping note-books? 2. What facts concerning the author did these note-books reveal and what did their disclosures conceal? 3. Did Hawthorne reveal his personality to any extent in his works of fiction? 4. Name the leading tendencies and traits of Hawthorne's literary work. 5. What class of subjects had for him a peculiar interest, and why? 6. What is the crowning charm of his stories? 7. Name his chief works. 8. Give the dates of his birth and death. THE GREAT STONE FACE Obviously, the story is intended to show: (a) The power of a fixed ideal in moulding character Purpose. to greatness; (b) That true divinity may exist all unsuspected in the lowliest individual; (c) The stupidity and blindness of the world's judgments. Method. The author has adopted a most appropriate symbolism for his artistic mould. (a) The Great Stone Face is the symbol of Divinity watching over the ideals of men; (b) In its direct effect on Ernest, it is the symbol of the fixed ideal operating on individual life and character; (c) In the rich man, the soldier, and the statesman, we find typified in turn the world's ideals of true greatness; it is only Ernest, the true-hearted man, who perceives their falseness; (d) In the poet of lofty verse, we recognize a nearer approach to the ideal, and one in whom a great and pure soul like Ernest might ardently hope to find it at last; (e) In Ernest himself, humble and unsuspecting of his own worth, we find the real ideal of the divine in man which the author has in mind; (f) The poet, in whose poems is " a strain of the Divinity," might actually have realized this Divinity in himself, if he had not chosen to live among "poor and mean realities"; (g) But, as showing the mission of the poet, it is his poetic insight that first reveals to the |