IRVIN AND COOPER

American Romanticism: Washington Irvin and James Fenimore Cooper

Both Washington Irvin and James Fenimore Cooper were essential for the development of a totally new kind of American art. These writers, influenced by the romantic novelist Sir Walter Scott, based their works on legends as well as on historical characters. If we analyse and compare Rip Van Winkle by Irvin and The last of the Mohicans by Cooper we will surely discover various romantic elements that reveal the writers’ approach towards life.
To begin with, the setting in both works is closely related to the wild and the permanent contact with the natural world. Irvin’s story starts with a vivid description of the Kaatskill mountains at which foot stands a village “whose shingle roofs gleam among the trees”. It is in this place that Rip Van Winkle, a good neighbour and submissive husband, lives. Rip’s solely companion is a dog named Wolf, which accompanies him in his walks through the woods whenever he is in ...