Washington Irving

Question 1

Which American author developed the short story form?/ With who did the American short story begin in 1819?

Answer 1

Washington Irving.

Question 2

Who was Washington Irving influenced by?

Answer 2

Joseph Addison and Oliver Goldsmith.

Question 3

The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. contains which most popular short stories?

Answer 3

Rip Van Winkle; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; The Spectre of Bridegroom.

Question 4

Which elements do Washington Irving’s satirical sketches contain?

Answer 4

Mythical and folkloric elements.

Question 5

What are Washington Irvings pseudonyms?

Answer 5

Jonathan Oldstyle; Launcelot Longstaff; Knickerbocker; Geoffrey Crayon.

Question 6

Which word became associated with New Yorkers and Knee Breeches and why?

Answer 6

Knickerbockers; because the persona of Diedrich Knickerbocker was so popular, and the knee-breeches were worn by him in the original illustration.

Question 7

How many short stories
are published in Irving’s
Sketch Book

Answer 7

3.

Question 8

Irving wrote The Sketch
Book under the following
pseudonym:

Answer 8

Geoffrey Crayon.

Question 9

Irving’s first published
work is …

Answer 9

Salmagundi.

Question 10

All three stories from the Sketch Book are set in Germany.

Answer 10

No, just The Spectre of Bridegroom.

Question 11

How long was Washingon Irving writing Washington’s biography for?

Answer 11

From 1850-1859. (9 years)

Question 12

The original name of New
York was…

Answer 12

New Amsterdam.

Question 13

At the beginning of “Rip
van Winkle”, the village inn
is designated with a
portrait of …

Answer 13

King George 3rd.

Question 14

When Rip returns home
after his twenty-year sleep,
who understands him best?

Answer 14

The village children.

Question 15

Who criticized Washington Irving?

Answer 15

Edgar Allan Poe.

Question 16

What are some of the symbols in Rip Van Winkle?

Answer 16

Rip’s twenty-year sleep symbolizes the rejection of the capitalistic values of his society, personified by his wife. His wife represents the British Empire, which the United States wants to throw off. And the game of nine-pins has a ritualistic meaning.

Question 17

The main antagonist in
“The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow” is …

Answer 17

Brom Bones.

Question 18

What, according to the
narrator of “Sleepy
Hollow”, is even scarier
than goblins and ghosts?

Answer 18

Women.

Question 19

Which character in “Sleepy
Hollow” is described as “a
genius of famine”?

Answer 19

Ichabod Crane.

Question 20

At the end of “Sleepy
Hollow”, how does the
community react to
Ichabod’s disappearance?

Answer 20

No one does anything.

Question 21

What does Ichabod Crane represent?

Answer 21

The outcast of artist-intellectual in American society.

Question 22

What are the similarities between Rip Van Winkle and The Sleepy Hollow?

Answer 22

The ritualistic form resembles the rights of passage. (separation - initiation - return)