Washington Irving: American Romanticism

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Washington Irving American Romanticism
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Washington Irving1783-1859

• born in New York City (near present-day Wall
  St.)
• youngest of 11 children
• parents were Scottish-English immigrants

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Biographical Information

• his parents greatly admired General George
  Washington (hence his name)
• his father became a wealthy merchant
• he trained as a lawyer but practiced only briefly
• showed literary promise early in his life

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Home of Washington Irving, New York
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Writing Career Begins

• 1802-3 published a series of newspaper articles
• 1807-8 published the Salmagundi papers
• 1809 published 1st major work A History of New
  York
• it was supposedly written by Deidrich
  Knickerbocker, an old, eccentric historian

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• this work marked Irvings future course
• it was designed solely for entertainment
• it taught no serious moral lessons
• his fiancée died in 1809
• accounts for melancholic cast over rest of his
  life and work

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Career Shifts to Europe in 1815

• sailed for England to take charge of family
  business in Liverpool
• when it bankrupted, he concentrated on literary
  career
• traveled throughout England, France, Spain,
  Germany, and Switzerland
• wrote history of Christopher Columbus

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Literary Career Continues

• 1819 - 1820 published The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey
  Crayon,
• it included Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of
  Sleepy Hollow

Old Rip
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Irvings Literary Pseudonyms

• Dietrich Knickerbocker
• Jonathan Oldstyle
• Geoffrey Crayon

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Irving Widely Recognized

• By the late 1820s, Irving had gained a
  reputation throughout Europe and America as a
  great writer and thinker

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Returns to America in 1832

• returned from Europe to New York
• established his home Sunnyside in Tarrytown
• never married or had children
• for next 25 years he shared Sunnyside with his
  brother Ebenezer and Ebenezer's 5 daughters

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Sunnyside, Home of Irving
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Irving on the Porch at Sunnyside
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Additional Views of Sunnyside
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First Genuine American Stories

• Rip Van Winkle
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
• contained distinctive American settings and
  characters
• incorporated German folktales and legends

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Irvings Grave
On November 28, 1859, on the eve of the Civil
War, Washington Irving died at Sunnyside
surrounded by his family.
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Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. 
He was buried in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery at
the Old Dutch Church
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Works Cited

• All photos in this
• PowerPoint presentation
• came from the
• American Memory Collection
• of the
• Library of Congress
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