Many people view harvest time as the weeks during which Starbucks serves Pumpkin Spice Latte, or as the time when the craft stores line their shelves with fake pumpkins, orange garlands, and scarecrows that are not scary at all. The funny thing about craft stores, however, is that if you move a couple of rows…
The Hudson River & the Hudson River Painters
“The Hudson River is a 315-mile (507 km) river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York in the United States. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the Upper New York Bay between New York City and Jersey City, eventually…
Read the Full Text of Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle Free – Illustrations by Frank T. Merrill
WHOEVER has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains. They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country. Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed,…
Character Development in Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle
Character Development of Rip “…a simple, good-natured fellow, of the name of Rip Van Winkle. “…I have observed that he was a simple, good-natured man; he was, moreover, a kind neighbour, and an obedient, hen-pecked husband. Indeed, to the latter circumstance might be owing that meekness of spirit which gained him such universal popularity; for…
Setting in Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle
Painting of Rip Van Winkle by Jon Quidor – 1829 Washington Irving is considered the Father of the Short Story, which began as an American literary form. His delightful story Rip Van Winkle is thought to have been the first American short story. In 1916, W. Patterson Atkinson said the following about the short story: “A short…
Little Red Riding Hood Illustrated and Redtold by Trina Schart Hyman
[Red’s mother packed a basked and sent Red through the woods with it to her grandmother’s house.] Picture Book Writers Often Allow Their Illustrations to Create the Setting: Hyman’s Written Creation of the Setting of Grandmother’s House “‘Oh, it’s a good fifteen minutes farther into the wood. Her house is the one by those three…
Why Are Crows Associated with Evil?
Especially in the USA, Crows or Blackbirds are simply part of the landscape, and over time, they have become associated with the autumnal time of year. I suppose that is because we associate scarecrows with the fall, and what is a scarecrow’s job? To scare crows. Perhaps it is because they are black that crows…
Description of Autumn Leaves by Winthrop Packard in Wood Wanderings
AMONG AUTUMN LEAVES WOOD WANDERINGS BY WINTHROP PACKARD ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES COPELAND Published in 1910 THE deep woods catch all the rich colors of the autumn sunsets in their foliage. The dull reds and the vivid ones, the maroons and the scarlets, the golden yellows and the wondrously soft and mellow shades of tan and…
My Day Trip to Hawksbill Crag in the Ozark Mountains
For a few years, I lived in Harrison, Arkansas, which is located in the heart of the beautiful Ozark Mountains. For my first day trip, I elected to go out to the area Along the highway, I passed some other notable spots that I’ll talk about later, but by the time that I had reached…