The romanticism movement was different from the ways of neoclassicism which focused on facts and facts alone. Romantics placed strong emphasis on the mysteries of nature and the supernatural, imagination, and the history or tradition of the new nation. This style of writing appealed to emotion more than reason. When romantic writers looked for truth, they found it through nature. "Romanticism resulting in part from the libertarian and egalitarian ideals of the French Revolution, had in common only a revolt against the prescribed rules of classicism. The basic aims of romanticism were a return to nature and to belief in the goodness of humanity; the rediscovery of the artist as a supremely individual creator; the development of nationalistic pride; and the exaltation of the senses and emotions over reason and intellect. In addition, romanticism was a philosophical revolt against rationalism"(Encyclopedia). "In literary works romanticism emphasizes on the imagination and the emotions and their freely individualized expression, especially in English literature by sensibility and the use of autobiographical material or an introspective cast, an exaltation of the primitive, the common man, an appreciation and often a worship of external nature, an interest in the remote in time and space, and a predilection for the melancholy"( Houser).
             Irving was not a short story writer, but a composer of books. "Irving's works are very personal in tone; his mood during composition is reflected in his work and, in some instances dictates its content"(Bowden). Therefore his beliefs are reflected in his works. "Irving was disgusted by the monarchical governments of Europe and loved being knowledgeable of behind-the-scenes political maneuvering"(Bowden). Irving was born in 1783, the same year that England officially recognized America as a nation. Washington Irving's life spanned the two wars that advanc...