American Romanticism.

The short story, Sleepy Hollow, is a very interesting example of romantic thought; all of the locales in the story are very pristine pictures of nature and abundance. The people in the story are endearingly rustic and simple, the type of townspeople you would expect to meet in a 19th century country village. Perhaps our vision of townspeople is greatly affected by the romantic portrayal of simple townsfolk that was created during this era of creativity. The author also really gives the story a rustic feel by using words that are very reminiscent of the time, such as peradventure, coquette, and pedagogue. The author also does a good job of representing the people with a certain playfulness that many aristocrats could not muster. For instance, in describing the “hero” of the town, Brom Bones, the author says, “Sometimes his crew would be heard dashing along past the farmhouses at midnight, with whoop and halloo, like a troop of Don Cossacks; and the old dames, startled out of their sleep, would listen for a moment till the hurry-scurry had clattered by, and then exclaim, "Ay, there goes Brom Bones and his gang!" The neighbors looked upon him with a mixture of awe, admiration, and good-will; and, when any madcap prank or rustic brawl occurred in the vicinity, always shook their heads, and warranted Brom Bones was at the bottom of it.”
The portrayal of simple people enjoying life as much or more than highly educated people is interesting. The people in romantic stories gain life experience from engaging themselves in something, actually experiencing things, rather than learning facts from a book as was the tradition in Europe. The best way to understand something is to use it and rely upon it. No matter how many tutorials you read about ballet you will never come anywhere close to knowing how to dance unless you actually practice.



The poem Thanatopsis is all about the lighter side of death. The poem speaks of people going back to nature, no matter how you lived your life you are bound to return to nature when you die. The poem says you will be equal to the dirt and rocks, but that all other people who ever died are there with you, you will be in the company of great people from all eras. You are free to spend your afterlife musing with the likes of Ptolemy and sir Isaac Newton. This is a good show of romantic thought because of the themes of nature and the generally unrealistic outlook; the most logical thing that happens when you die if you just cease to exist, you stop thinking and operating instead of going and hanging out with a bunch of cool dead guys.


The poem “the ropewalk” is all about imagination, how even when you are doing something as tedious and boring as making a rope you can use your imagination to make it more fun, imagining the people as spiders spinning webs and fair maidens swinging on swings. The ideas of just getting away from it all is a very romantic idea, we imagine days without worry, without work. I think that we should, instead of enjoying an idea that will never happen, we should learn to enjoy our everyday activities as a realist would.