Book Blog 3: Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving

The Kaatskill Mountains

Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving is a short story about a man who lives in a small village at the foot of the Kaatskill Mountains.  His name is, surprise, Rip Van Winkle.  Van Winkle is described as a pleasant man who is popular among the people of the village.  He is married to the woman Dame Van Winkle who abuses her husband with her sharp tongue.  Dame Van Winkle calls her husband “idle-minded” and isn’t fond of his mingling with philosophers and other so called “idle minded men”. 

One day Van Winkle goes on a squirrel hunt to get away from his wife.  This is the described scene:

Panting and fatigued, he threw himself, late in the afternoon, on a green knoll, covered with mountain herbage, that crowned the brow of a precipice.  From an opening between the trees he could overlook all the lower country for many mile of rich woodland.  He saw at a distance the lordly Hudson, far, far below him, moving on its silent but majestic course, with the reflection of a purple cloud, or the sail of a lagging bark, here and there sleeping on its glassy bosom, and at last losing itself in the blue hillside.

 Irving has an amazing ability to describe events, situations and especially landscapes.  Whether he is describing this branch of the Appalachian Mountains or if he is describing Ichabod Crane’s horseback ride in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving’s descriptions are always extremely vivid down to the tiniest details.  I have also noticed Irving’s tendency to cram an unnatural amount of clauses into a single sentence such as the third sentence in this quote describing the Hudson. 

After reading Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and now reading Rip Van Winkle Irving’s writing style continues to be pleasantly intriguing.  I wound encourage anyone who isn’t afraid of a couple of big words and intricate phrasing to read these short stories, also if you are thinking about reading Starters: don’t, read this instead.