The Devil and Tom Walker-English 11

In class we're starting the Romantics off with "The Devil and Tom Walker", a short story by Washington Irving. If you talk about the romantics with most English 11 teachers we become giddy.

No, really we do.

The Devil and Tom Walker

Why you may ask? This is the genre that changes everything in American literature. everything. As Americans we began to formulate who we were as a nation--the people who write about what the common man was thinking, painting what the common man was seeing and singing about what the common man was feeling.

Washington Irving's,
Rip Van Winkle

 Before this genere we were under the puritan command. Most believed that they were bound for hell since salvation was predetermined and heaven had limited occupancy. For the first time since leaving England (and perhaps having families able to add a second generation in America) the thinkers were able to leave religious restrictions behind and take time to notice their emotions.

Puritans Preaching

This ideal never existed before---well, it probably did, but it wasn't allowed to be shared openly for fear that it might get you killed to go against the social fabric of the puritans. I understand that to many of you this sort of writing seems so, 'yesterday', but please try to look at it through the eyes of those that lived during the 1800s. See the magic it has to offer.