ESSAY CEMETERY

Themes ·        Cotton Mather's Tales of Witchcraft lend a feel of realistic supernatural, of historical accuracy ·        Tentative language in regards to the supernatural “This has ever since been considered a haunted stream, and fearful are the feelings of the schoolboy who has to pass it alone after dark” Devices ·         Lists “Under this were hung flails, harness, various utensils of husbandry, and nets for fishing in the neighboring river. Benches were built along the sides for summer use; and a great spinning-wheel at one end, and a churn at the other, showed the various uses to which this important porch might be devoted” ·         Run-on sentences ·         Lots of semi-colons ·         Maxims “I profess not to know how women's hearts are wooed an...

The story is set in the small market town or rural port Tarry Town. Two miles of the village is a little valley called Sleepy Hollow, inhabited by peculiar people of Dutch descent. It has a drowsy, dreamy quality to it. There is much speculation about a spell of some sort that was cast over it. Strange things happen there; its inhabitants behave strangely and see strange things. Visitors of the Hollow too soon acquire a dreamy quality. The Hollow seems not to change with time. The dominant spirit is the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, said to be seeking his head. Thirty years before, Ichabod Crane, a Connecticut man, comes to the Hollow to be a schoolmaster. He is gangly and odd-looking. His schoolhouse is patchily constructed and in a secluded location. Crane employs the rod and is a strict but just teacher, sparing the weak and disciplining the strong. He lives at the houses of the children whom he teaches, and is on good terms with them, for his salary is low and he nee...