Washington Irving and the Birth of American Romanticism

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Washington Irving’s brief autobiographical essay “The Author’s Account of Himself” opens his book of numerous writings titled “The Sketch Book.” First published in London in 1809, this slightly satirical introductory essay gives a brief glimpse into Irving’s admiration for his blossoming American continent: Cover page of “The Sketch Book,” 1819, by Washington Irving. (Public Domain) “Her mighty lakes, like oceans of liquid silver; her mountains, with their bright aerial tints; her valleys, teeming with wild fertility; her tremendous cataracts, thundering in their solitudes; her boundless plains, waving with spontaneous verdure; her broad deep rivers, rolling in solemn silence to the ocean…no, never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery.” ...

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