The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving's classic tale of rural New England life shortly after the American Revolution, depicts the pull of romanticism in his writing of this era. The story contains numerous descriptions of pastoral, mellow and even day dreamy settings, which coincidently make the backbone of romantics. One element of romanticism is, "getting away from it all," and the introduction to the story sets this idea up perfectly. In the short story Irving uses the first three paragraphs to convince the reader of not only the high level of romance in the town of Sleepy Hollow, but also the high value of romance in everyone's lives.
Irvine is a mastermind at burning the setting of a story into the readers mind. In this particular short story he opens the with a short five lined poem that casts in image of a "Castle of Indolence." This setting is a castle of laziness; a place absent of time and/or responsibility which is the image that he wants the readers to see in the sown of Sleepy Hollow. By the fifth line Irving already has the reader settling into "uniform tranquillity." (p. 1) Next Irving takes the reader for a mental "birds eye view" and zooms in past the "eastern shore of the Hudson"(p. 1), to a "small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh."(p 1) Irving uses a neat strategy of using a zoom-like effect to make the reader feel serine, and even place himself in this romantic setting. Detail seems to be a useful tool in Irving's writing, as he uses description after description in this story. He paints a picture in the readers mind, and even adds a soundtrack to make it even more tangible. " 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 tranquillity."(p. 1) This quiet place where "Sabbath stillness" exists is portrayed as having a flawless existence, and this is no mistake.
