Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving is the quintessential example of American Romanticism. Using characteristics that he would later use in his more widely known novel, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” And incorporating characteristics from the “Leatherstocking Tales” novel series. Characteristics such as heroic simplicity and intensely detailed descriptions of nature. Other characteristics like A national/ self-identity playing a large part in the characters popularized by the European romantics of the time. Or the supernatural fixation popularized by Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. And finally Washington’s use of Nostalgia as popularized by the Swiss during the same period.
Rip Van Winkle perfectly epitomizes the