Washington Irving on Autumn
It was, as I have said, a fine autumnal day; the sky was clear and serene, and nature wore that rich and golden livery which we always associate with the idea of abundance. The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet. Streaming files of wild ducks began to make their appearance high in the air; the bark of the squirrel might be heard from the groves of beech and hickory-nuts, and the pensive whistle of the quail at intervals from the neighboring stubble field . . . As Ichabod jogged slowly on his way, his eye, ever open to every symptom of culinary abundance, ranged with delight over the treasures of jolly autumn. On all sides he beheld vast store of apples; some hanging in oppressive opulence on the trees; some gathered into baskets and barrels for the market; others heaped up in rich piles for the cider-press. Farther on he beheld great fields of Indian corn, with its golden ears peeping from their leafy coverts, and holding out the promise of cakes and hasty-pudding; and the yellow pumpkins lying beneath them, turning up their fair round bellies to the sun, and giving ample prospects of the most luxurious of pies; and anon he passed the fragrant buckwheat fields breathing the odor of the beehive, and as he beheld them, soft anticipations stole over his mind of dainty slapjacks, well buttered, and garnished with honey or treacle, by the delicate little dimpled hand of Katrina Van Tassel.
—Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Irving’s marvelous prose is filled with figures. The entire passage above is a sterling example of chronographia with some topographia thrown in for good measure. Personification, alliteration, parallelism, and ellipsis are fairly easy to spot here as well. Do you see any others?
Washington Irving is a master storyteller. “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” are not to be missed, though if your child is very sensitive, the latter might wait a bit. Avoid the movies and cartoons, though, which are quite frightening, and even some audio versions come across as a bit creepy. Your best bet: read it aloud yourself!
