Romanticism Task 1

I found that in the story Rip Van Winkle there was a lot of nature involved. There were a lot of joyful scenes such as the children running after him whenever they saw him. I liked one particular quote that I thought was interesting. “When the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.” It said there was a lot of grayness in the sky, but the last rays of the sun made it glow and light up into beautiful scenery. To me, I believe this quote meant that in the mist of the grayness, there is light that symbolized hope in my opinion. “He rubbed his eyes—it was a bright sunny morning. The birds were hopping and twittering among the bushes, and the eagle was wheeling aloft, and breasting the pure mountain breeze.” This quote also depicts beautiful scenery. Books were the only way for people to escape the city. It was a time when imagination was key to being able to get away from the noise and riot of the city. Romantics focused a lot on nature in their writings and I think Washington Irving was able to accomplish this in his book.