Throughout “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Irving uses verbal irony to give readers a more critical view of the story’s characters and setting. He employs this technique to introduce his protagonist and the Sleepy Hollow community:
In this by-place of nature there abode, in a remote period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane[.]
At the time of this story’s publication, the United States was only a few decades old. By labeling the events of 30 years ago “remote American history,” Irving draws attention to the nation's newness and its resulting lack of “authentic” history. He continues to use verbal irony in his portrait of Ichabod Crane. Describing Ichabod’s lanky physique, Irving writes:
The cognomen of Crane was not inapplicable to his person.
This sentence is a deliberate understatement, intended to highlight Ichabod’s crane-like features, from his exaggeratedly skinny body to his long, beak-like nose. Understatements like these are a specific form of verbal irony called “litotes.”
Verbal irony draws attention to the fact that the story is being transmitted through a storyteller, whose personal agendas and biases are unknown to readers. While “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” presents itself as a historical account, frequent use of verbal irony encourages readers to question the tale’s veracity.
