Monday, October 31, 2011

KidLit Quote of the Week #5: Halloween Edition

I thought about quoting the full tale (it's in the public domain, after all) because the entire thing is such a gorgeous example of the art of atmospheric writing — but time- and space-saving heads prevailed. So now I give you the final paragraph in Washington Irving's supernatural masterpiece The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:

 "The old country wives, however, who are the best judges of these matters, maintain to this day that Ichabod was spirited away by supernatural means; and it is a favorite story often told about the neighborhood round the winter evening fire. The bridge became more than ever an object of superstitious awe; and that may be the reason why the road has been altered of late years, so as to approach the church by the border of the millpond. The schoolhouse being deserted soon fell to decay, and was reported to be haunted by the ghost of the unfortunate pedagogue — and the plowboy, loitering homeward of a still summer evening, has often fancied his voice at a distance, chanting a melancholy psalm tune among the tranquil solitudes of Sleepy Hollow."

3 comments:

Gail said...

Hi Lisa,
Even though you didn't list your blog address on Market My Words, I found you! But I couldn't find a button to sign on as a follower. I see you're signed up for PiBoIdMo- me too! Come check out my blog when you have a chance.
http://writefromthesoulvisualeyes.blogspot.com

Lisa said...

Hi Gail! Thanks for finding me. My name on the comment at Market My Words should be clickable right to the blog (unless I mistakenly commented in an unusual way — who knows)! In any case, you can easily follow this blog by clicking Blogger's default "Follow" option in the upper left-hand corner of the page, — or in the right-hand sidebar under my "FOLLOW" heading, you can click on the Feedburner icon for options or sign in right below that using your favorite account (Google, Twitter, Yahoo, etc.).

Looking forward to PiBoIdMo, and I'll come check you out! Good luck!

Joanna said...

I too am checking out PiBoIdMo blogs.... You have reminded me of this classic that I have not yet read!!