Metaphorically, we're preparing to enter the realm of Hypnos, the god of sleep. Check it out:. There silence dwells: only the lazy stream of Lethe 'neath the rock with whisper low o'er pebbly shallows trickling lulls to sleep. Before the cavern's mouth lush poppies grow and countless herbs, from whose bland essences a drowsy infusion dewy Nox [Nyx, Night] distils and sprinkles sleep across the darkening world. No doors are there for fear a hinge should creak, no janitor before the entrance stands, but in the midst a high-raised couch is set of ebony, sable and downy-soft, and covered with a dusky counterpane, whereon the god, relaxed in languor, lies.
The light about the chamber is weak and fitful, and languid gleams that woo to earliest slumbers vanish as the lamps flicker and dim. Quiet, by a river, in a hollow, dark, with a strange mist that makes everyone sleepy. Check, check, check, check, and check. Just read the first three paragraphs of "Sleepy Hollow" and you'll know what we mean.
If you're the kind of person who likes to read really deeply into silly comedies we're guilty of it! If Sleepy Hollow is the home of Hypnos, and its river is the river Lethe , then that means we are… in the Underworld?
Hmmm, that means we're dead. We know, it's totally trippy. Although being in a town of dead people would be a pretty good explanation for why there are so many ghosts around those parts. The sleepiness of the town and its contagious nature lures us right into Irving's tale.
It's like when stories begin, "It was a dark and stormy night," and you know exactly what kind of story it's going to be. The setting becomes a persistent feature of the story, and we know it's always there, giving off its sleepy vapors, making people dream dreams.
Irving's detailed description of Baltus's wealth both defines what it is to be rich in rural America and highlights the bounty of America's natural resources. The barn is "bursting forth with the treasures of the farm" 1. This place has tons of food and everything else you could ever need.
Emphasis on need. What distinguishes Baltus's pad from other kinds of wealth is that it's not home to impractical things, like golden toothbrushes or HDTVs. Baltus is humble when it comes to his farm and his wealth. He's just happy to smoke his pipe and chill in his chair, like any normal old Dutchman.
But Ichabod, the sneaky city guy, is consumed with greed and envy from the moment he sets eyes on the farm. He stops at nothing to get what he wants. What does this teach us? But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you.
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