20220202 - Review: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Hymned psalms by moonlight,\ and the galloping of hooves.\ Heedless desire.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving, is the story of Ichabod Crane, heedless schoolmaster of New York state's secluded and tranquil Sleepy Hollow. This is a cautionary tale about how the Headless Horseman ran Ichabod out of town, in a metaphor for his heedless desires of food, a woman and her family's land. 

My main critique about the work is that it is a tad lofty (is that the word I'm looking for?), or kind of boring, with drawn out unnecessary parts that mess with pacing; however, I think this critique is due in part to reader expectations as, despite this being a gothic story like Frankenstein or Jekyll, and despite the many ways this story has been adapted, readers may forget this is a children's story rather than a horror sci-fi where Sleepy Hollow's whimsical and humourous nature sets it apart from its contemporaries.

"for, as she sagely observed, ducks and geese are foolish things, and must be looked after, but girls can take care of themselves."

Ichabod was a schoolmaster who lived with the families of the children he taught, as per local custom; he believed in witchcraft and had an "extraordinary" "appetite for the marvelous" with similar "powers of digesting it", soaking stories up like a sponge, tricking himself into believing monsters were behind every shrub, where he had to sing psalms to himself to quiet his anxiety; through all this he seems like a nice guy, though it is typical that he fawns over his love interest for the land and food he would gain by joining her family, but he is described like the Headless Horseman in imagery, and is confronted by the very spectre in the climax. A fine story about the dangers of heedless desire.

On another note, I wanted to note that the counter went past 10k views last week! Thank you all for reading! Let's keep things rolling and steady!

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Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean