{"id":518,"date":"2014-03-31T18:03:51","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T18:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/?p=518"},"modified":"2014-03-31T18:03:51","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T18:03:51","slug":"the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/2014\/03\/31\/the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow\/","title":{"rendered":"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Posted by Allexandra Beatty for AMST 838\/438, “America Collects Itself”]<\/p>\n

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow<\/i> illustrated by Felix O.C. Darley (The American Art-Union, 1850).<\/p>\n

Washington Irving\u2019s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow<\/i> is a well-known and beloved tale throughout the northeast.\u00a0 The ghoulish story, set in Tarrytown, New York (or rather, Sleepy Hollow), narrates the encounter between Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman.\u00a0 This edition is set in large format (32 x 29 cm), containing 16 pages of text and 6 black and white plates featuring recognizable scenes from the story.\u00a0 Interestingly, these illustrations were not published interspersed between relevant passages, but appended to the complete narrative.<\/p>\n

Subscribers to the American Art-Union would have been familiar with this tale, as it was originally published in 1820.\u00a0 This edition, released in 1850 and illustrated by Felix O.C. Darley, provided a different experience for readers who were well acquainted with the twists and turns of the Legend<\/i>\u2019s plot.\u00a0 Rather, this publication offers a unique synthesis of illustration and text.\u00a0 Through the lens of another artist (fine, not literary), the overall experience is altered dramatically.\u00a0 The accompanying images are finely tuned amalgamations of facial expressions, body language, and sparse scenery giving structure to the composition, and grounding the figures within the narrative arc.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the plates are untitled and, as noted, separated from the original text.\u00a0 As such, they act as their own narrative, beginning first with Figure 1\u2014a scene within Ichabod Crane\u2019s classroom.<\/p>\n

\"sleepy<\/a>Here, the knobby-kneed schoolteacher is surrounded by a group of disinterested, shy, and mischievous young boys.\u00a0\u00a0 Ichabod stares half-heartedly at a quill held in one hand while he pares away the tip with a tool in his other.\u00a0 \"sleepy<\/a><\/p>\n

In Figure 2, his expression is starkly the opposite.\u00a0 Ichabod winches his head in earnest, gesturing a word of caution to the surrounded group of listeners.\u00a0 One cowers in fear, another stares wide-eyed, and another has drifted to sleep in his arms.\u00a0 Surrounded by the accouterments of a humble home, this image offers a vision of Ichabod retelling the folklore of Sleepy Hollow, and the legend of the Headless Horseman.<\/p>\n

\"sleepy<\/a>Figure 3 jumps to a scene between Ichabod and the woman of his affection, 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel.\u00a0 Perhaps the most evocative of Darley\u2019s illustrations, this piece uses the languid tree limbs mirror Ichabod\u2019s limp body posture as he croons over his beloved.\u00a0 Katrina sits firm and stoic, looking away from how downward longing.<\/p>\n

\"sleepy<\/a>Figure 4 represents the climax of his relationship with Katrina, as they dance in the center of this composition, Katrina nearly meeting the viewer\u2019s eye and Ichabod looking back at her, again, lovingly.\u00a0 Among the crowd are a myriad of characters\u2014some drunk, some sleeping, some foolish, and some simply enjoying themselves.\u00a0 This densely populated scene speaks to the generalized nature of the overall narrative, whereby Washington Irving\u2019s tale typifies a sense of regionalism.\u00a0 His writing seems to apply to the cultural tendencies of northeastern Americans from the early to mid 19th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 As such, the illustration of such figures could prove to be a useful tool in connecting American Art-Union subscribers to the narrative, though published 30 years after its intended audience.<\/p>\n

\"sleepy<\/a>\"sleepy<\/a>Figures 5 and 6 finally reveal the Headless Horseman.\u00a0 The first shows the character disguised as a traveler, his face turned away from the viewer.\u00a0 In his lap, an indiscriminate round object sits perfectly out of sight.\u00a0 Notably, the rider\u2019s horse seems to be gesturing in a similarly disguised manner.\u00a0 His head is reared down, as if bowing to the oncoming Ichabod Crane, though wide-eyed and seemingly fear-stricken.\u00a0 The facial expressions of Ichabod and his horse are perfectly mirrored\u2014both caught at the brink of a sharp inhale upon the sight of the cloaked traveler and his horse.\u00a0 The horse\u2019s legs are taught and spread, in a stopped and abrupt motion.\u00a0 Ichabod too seems caught off-guard, as his cloak is still billowing behind him.\u00a0 At their feet, a small puff of dust has been disturbed, signaling unrest and disruption.\u00a0 The last plate features the exciting chase between the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane.\u00a0 Again, the horses and their respective riders appear with mirrored expressions.\u00a0 The cloaked rider is finally revealed to be \u201cheadless\u201d, while the flank of Ichabod\u2019s panicked plow horse hides the other animal\u2019s face.\u00a0\u00a0 Ichabod and his horse are both painfully wide-eyed in sheer dread.\u00a0 Darley most successfully conveys the stress and tension of the scene within the body of Ichabod\u2019s horse\u2014the visible rib cage, reaching muscles, and taught neck of the animal bespeak terror and desperation as the two clamor toward safety.<\/p>\n

As successful as these images may be in visually conveying key points in the written narrative, they seem to lack conclusiveness and fluid linear progression.\u00a0 These six plates offer only a few glimpses into the characters of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow<\/i>.\u00a0 Furthermore, they offer no sort of finality\u2014though the story ends is a rather poignant paradox.\u00a0 True to the story, however, there is no neat conclusion to be backed in a nice bow and handed to consumers of said piece.\u00a0 Rather, the lack of finality in the visual storyboard reflects the integrity of the original narrative, whereby readers are left stunned, reaching back to page one to begin again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Posted by Allexandra Beatty for AMST 838\/438, “America Collects Itself”] The Legend of Sleepy Hollow illustrated by Felix O.C. Darley (The American Art-Union, 1850). Washington Irving\u2019s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a well-known and beloved tale throughout the northeast.\u00a0 The ghoulish story, set in Tarrytown, New York (or rather, Sleepy Hollow), narrates the encounter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":530,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions\/530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}