American Romanticism Literature project 3

1. The story i chose to read was the legend of Sleepy Hollow. This story takes place in a little town called Tarry Town. The story is a tale of a headless horsemen who haunts the town of sleepy hollow. The story talks about a guy by the name of Ichabod Crane who comes to this town makes a guy by the name brom bones mad. They feud and one night Ichabod is told this tale of the headless horsemen. Legend has it that he is confronted by this "horsemen" and he disappears. Honestly i don't think this is really what happened. Personally i believe that Ichabod was confronted by Brom Bones and killed. However the legend goes its pretty unbelievable.

2. In the story of Sleepy Hollow i almost always identified an example of Romanticism. Since Romanticists focused on nature in their writing, it is conclusive with this. For example "A pleasing land of drowsy head it was,Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,Forever flushing round a summer sky." and here as well "A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere." The writer made me actually feel like i saw the things he spoke of. Pretty weird but i visualized this whole scene.

3." When thoughts Of the last bitter hour come like a blight Over thy spirit, and sad images Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall, And breathless darkness, and the narrow house, Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;-" To me this is saying that when you think of the last hour of your life, don't be so quick to think negative. Death is beautiful in a sense. Let not those bad images keep you alive. For death is natural and it comes to all. What makes this poem romantic is the Nature theme applied to it. Beyond the difficult words there is a meaning.

4.The ropewalk a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was very interesting. The point of the poem was about a worker who prepared ropes. He spoke of the things he saw or imagined would happen while working. It also seems he might've created the ropes and imagined them to be what he saw. The images that stand out to me are the little girl swinging, the ships and the seabreeze all of which the author spoke of. The Rope walk is a good example of romanticism because in each stanza the author speaks of something that has to do with nature.

5. The painting shown could be considered romanticism because of the setting. The painting i chose could be considered romantic because of the pictures setting. The picture is of a tree and shade which is nature all around. Romantists focused on nature so this would definately be considered romantic.