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Short Essays

Washington Irving : The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Were legends for real or were they products of old folks ' fertile minds ? Sleepy Hallow brimmed with fantastic stories of goblins and ghosts , haunted places and witches , evil spirits and superstitions Tall tales were spun and swapped and were taken as incredible but true

Ichabod Crane was the school master and teacher of psalmody . He was considered an important person in Sleepy Hollow . He read witchcraft He often got carried away by his readings that ordinary animal sounds in the forest would scare him . Ichabod

joined the wives on winter evenings and exchanged horror stories like the one about the headless Hessian trooper , witches , and of eerie sights and sounds . Ichabod would also share distorted science facts about the earth turning upside-down and of ominous comets and shooting stars . In grandiose parties like the one given by the wealthy farmer , Baltus Van Tassel , ghost stories and unbelievable war exploits were part of the occasion . Each one tried to outdo the other with outrageous yarns to impress listeners

Told and re-told , tales have been passed on with additions and deletions that suited the narrator of the hour . Ichabod derived a certain sinister pleasure swapping stories that he himself got to believed as real . Ichabod was last seen alive at the Van Tassel party . Typical at Sleeping Hollow tales were once more woven as to the fate of the character that was Ichabod . Many years after there had been physical changes in Sleeping Hollow but the legend and the stories lived on

Edgar Allan Poe : The Fall of the House of Usher

How far would one go in the name of friendship ? Roderick Usher 's friend certainly went all the way to the gloomy House of Usher . Roderick and Madeline , the last of the Ushers , were in no better condition than their house

This Poe classic was bleak throughout . It began on a low note . One overcast autumn Usher 's friend rode to visit and comfort his boyhood pal . The scenery along the way to the house was lifeless . Dead trees add to the cheerless air . The dilapidated condition of the mansion was appalling . It had seen better times and what remained was a cold and neglected place

When he was ushered inside the mansion , he noted the cold interiors The rugs , the floors , and the heavy curtains were in dark and somber hues . The furniture was old and worn-out . The rooms were large and the windows were long and narrow . Not enough sunlight could filter through Books and musical instruments seemed not in use for such a long time

Roderick talked of a malady that has stricken him . He was desolate for his sister Madeline was very ill . Her condition brought him to extreme depression . He got worse when Madeline died . He was inconsolable until he lost his mind . No amount of his friend 's caring and comforting helped Roderick . He was broken . He could not bear even just the thought of separation from...

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