Test #5

The new literary spirit of romanticism dominated American literature during what years?

1820-1865

What was Irving's first major work, supposedly written by an old, eccentric historian?

A History of New York

What was the "American Renaissance"?

A five-year break out of creativity

What is "the only edged tool that grows Keener with constant use"?

A sharp tongue

To try to escape his wife, where does Rip meet with "other...personages of the village"?

At Nicholas Vedder's inn

How is the manner of Dame Van Winkle's death ironically appropriate?

Because she is characterized by her ill temper, it seems fitting that her death is caused by a broken blood vessel during a fit of passion aimed at a new England peddler.

How does Rip respond to his wife's nagging?

Both a and b, He says nothing and He leaves the house

Instead of speaking, how does Nicolas Vedder ordinarily communicate his opinions?

By the way he smokes his pipe

How can Nicholas Vedder's neighbors tell the time of day without looking at a Sundial?

By watching Vedder's movements

In what aspect was the United States thought of as inferior to the other highly developed countries?

Culture

Why does Wolf "sneak about with with a gallows air"?

Dame Van Winkle treats him in the same way that she treats Rip

Unitarianism was the religious outgrowth and counterpart of what philosophy?

Deism

What is Rip's primary fault?

Distaste for profitable labor

Irving's mock history was approved by many people but offended families of what heritage

Dutch

Irving was the first American writer to emphasize what purpose for writing?

Entertainment

What replaced the philosophy of romanticism as another futile effort to find meaning in life apart from God?

Evolution

"Rip Van Winkle" is one of Irving's few completely original stories.

False

"Rip Van Winkle" suggests that only a dog's courage, not a man's, can withstand the force of a woman's tongue.

False

Although much admired in America, Irving was distrusted and scoffed at by major writers in England.

False

Although resulting in heavy casualties and material losses, the Civil War managed to quickly heal the wounds of division in the country.

False

During the last years of his life, Irving wrote the two works that would make him most famous: "Rip Van Winkle and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."

False

Nature had a more important position in the thinking and works of 18th century writers than that of the romantic writers.

False

Ordinarily, Romantics distrusted religion, particularly pantheism.

False

Rip Van Winkle's grandson is just like a Rip in physical appearance and disposition.

False

Rip is nagged by all the women in the town in the same way as by his wife.

False

Rip returns to the town on the anniversary of the end of the war.

False

The great revival of 1857 apparently began as a result of prayer meetings held independently by a number of rural preachers, primarily in Virginia.

False

The group of romantic writers known as the New England school was centered in Boston and focused on the development of the short story and novel.

False

Each of the following is an important product of technological advances during the romantic period except the ...

First steamboat

Which writer's contribution to the development of the short story was primarily connected to theme rather than style?

Hawthorne

What is ironic about Rip's pronouncement, "surely... I have not slept here all night"?

He had slept for 20 years, much more than one night

In what way is Rip not like his ancestors?

He has a little Marshall character

In addition to his farm, what else reveals Rip's neglect?

His children, particularly Rip

Which inclination motivates Rip most after he waits and takes stock of his situation?

Hunger

Discounting the shock of almost everything in town being different, why would rip be uncomfortable with how the tone of life has changed in the town?

Instead of the "drowsy tranquility" that he was used to and that fit his character, the towns people had a "busy, bustling, disputatious tone."

What writer and work were the first from America to be widely read and respected in both England and the United States?

Irving, The Sketch Book

According to the Romantics, God...

Is understandable only through nature

They Romantics considered the imagination to be a primary importance in...

Literary creation

Why does Rip's pronouncement of blessing on the king create a near panic?

Neither A nor B

The great revival of 1857 primarily affected what to regions of America?

North and Midwest

What benefit does Rip gain from his relationship with his wife?

Patience

What was the only kind of government that had any importance to Rip?

Petticoat government-that is, the rule of his wife

As the mountain stranger approaches him, Rip has each of the following reactions except

Preparing to raise his gun

What event brought more attacks against the Bible then did any other source?

Publication of Darwin's Origin of Species

Each of the following is a key word that describes an idea favored by the Romantics except...

Rationality

The opening description in "Rip Van Winkle"

Reflects Irving's interest in painting

Why is the description of Rip, Jr., as Rip, Sr.'s, "heir" ironically appropriate?

Rip, Jr., "inherited" his father's "disposition to attend to any thing else but his business"

Which of the following ideas is a central concept of Unitarianism?

Salvation by works

What two elements of "rip van winkle" and "the legend of sleepy hollow" made important contributions to their genre?

Setting and characterization

What literary form did Irving create by combining the narrative tale in the essay of character?

Short story

What two aspects of the sense of distance were employed by romantic writers?

Space and time

The major romantic writers...

Strove for universal themes and forms

Each of the following references is a clue to the reader about the length of Rip's stay on the mountain except

That Rip wakes in the same place where he first saw the stranger

The settling of "Rip Van Winkle" is

The Catskill mountains

Some revival historians suggest that the great revival of 1857 was providential preparation for what?

The Civil War

What form of evangelism, popular for most of the 19th century, helped maintain an emphasis on Orthodox religion?

The camp meeting

Each of the following ideas is central to Unitarianism except...

The depravity of man

Which of the four key elements of American romanticism would tend to be least objectionable to the Puritans?

The distant

What strikes Rip as odd about the men playing nine-pins?

Their dress

During Irving's time Americans had an increased interest in literature because

They had more opportunity for leisure pursuits than before.

How was Emerson's and Thoreau's use of the distant different from that of other romantic writers?

They were attracted to the distant future rather than to the past

The Romantics believed that the way to improve man was...

To remove negative influences from his environment.

After Rip wakes and decides to retrace his path to the scene of the nine-pins, he finds the way much different

True

Despite his place in American literature, relatively few of Irvings works have distinctly American settings.

True

In addition to stories, Irving was also known for his writing of biography.

True

In the space of only 30 years, an overwhelming majority of Boston's congregational churches had become Unitarian.

True

Irving was America's first professional man of letters.

True

Irving's popularity was, to a great extent, caused by the American thirst for cultural independence from Europe.

True

It was during this time of American literary history that American literature matured in the United States one literary independence from England.

True

Most of the towns people seem skeptical at first about Rip's sanity and the authenticity of his story

True

Not even the townsmen are safe from the scourge of Dame Van Winkle's tongue.

True

Rip's story about the stranged mountain men is corroborated by the oldest member of the town.

True

The compromises of 1820, 1833, and 1850 provided only a temporary solution for the major disagreements between the north and the south.

True

The romantic writers centered in New York City were called knickerbockers after Diedrich Knickerbocker, the storyteller invented by Washington Irving.

True

What word refers to the romantic view of a perfect world based on either past innocence or future self-realization?

Utopia

Even after her death, in what way does Dame Van Winkle still have an influence on rip?

Whenever her name is mentioned, he shakes his head, shrugs his shoulders, and casts up his eyes just as he did in response to her nagging when she was alive