Washington Irving’s style is descriptive, packed with imagery, and full of dry, ironic commentary on his characters’ foibles. He spends large chunks of text describing the lush landscape of Sleepy Hollow, the history of the surrounding area, and the riches of Van Tassel’s farm. Irving’s focus on landscape and history is characteristic of the Romantic period in which he worked.
Also, like many other Romantic writers, Irving is concerned with the relationship between past and present. In one of Irving’s other works, a short story called “Rip Van Winkle,” the titular Van Winkle falls asleep in the Catskill Mountains, only to wake up 20 years later, having missed the Revolutionary War. Van Winkle is then forced to adjust to the myriad cultural and historical changes that he missed during his long nap. Irving’s interest in people and places that exist outside of time also applies to “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” as The Hollow's “dreamy” atmosphere traps residents under its supernatural influence and rejects history's interferences.
In fact, the quasi-academic persona that Irving adopts to narrate “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” reflects his interest in the historical record. Diedrich Knickerbocker, a fictional historian, is the story’s speaker. Knickerbocker’s stated goal is to provide a “precise and authentic” account of the tale of Ichabod Crane, but his story’s accuracy is frequently called into question. By placing Knickerbocker between himself and his readers, Irving emphasizes the “told” nature of the tale and encourages readers to constantly reevaluate its ratio of fact to fiction.
