The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

¹ "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" was first published in 1819.

² Irving places the story "in a remote period of American history, ...that is to say, some thirty years since." Based on the publication date of 1819, the story takes place around1789, just a few years after the War of Independence.
This paragraph introduces us to the hero of the tale, Ichabod Crane. So many traits of this clownish country schoolmaster are repeated in stories by other 19th century authors that Ichabod was clearly a literary prototype for the comic American schoolmaster.

³ Here's a metaphor for the schoolhouse most students can relate to. Irving portrays the school as an eelpot, easy to enter but almost impossible to escape from. This makes the students the eels, who wriggle eagerly inside the interesting looking contraption only to find themselves trapped. What student has not known the feeling at one time or another!

⁴ Irving quickly switches his metaphor from eels in a pot to bees in a hive. The transformation works on two levels. On one level, the students actually emit a low, beelike buzz as they are "conning over their lessons." It was a typical practice of the day to have students murmur their lessons as they worked on them. On another level, by transforming the students into bees, Irving indicates the potential danger they present to their schoolmaster if their innocent buzzing turns into something more stinging. This creates a perfect transition to the discussion of corporal punishment that follows.

⁵ Corporal punisment is a common theme in tales of 19th century schools. Prior to 1850, the use of physical punishment was virtually the rule and often written about in a light-hearted though somewhat critical manner, as it is here. After 1850 attitudes had changed, and the use of the rod (usually a switch, or branch, cut from a nearby tree) tended to be the sign of a mean-spirited, even sadistic teacher.

⁶ Teachers in rural communities, both male and female, were paid very little and tended to "board 'round" (live with each of their students' families for a week or two at a time). Given the low pay and lack of stability which came with the job, it's no wonder that any man who chose teaching as more than a temporary profession was looked down upon. Likewise, it was understood that female teachers were either young women who would soon be married or "old maids" who were to be pitied.

⁷ Irving is having fun at the expense of both the schoolmaster and the people of Sleepy Hollow. The extent of Ichabod Crane's literary treasure trove appears to amount to little more than a few psalms and some fabulous stories of witchcraft, yet the illiterate folk of the area see him as learned and the females find this foolish stranger to be the closest thing to a gentleman they have ever encountered.

⁸ A ferule is a ruler. This weapon was typically a schoolmaster's method for putting a quick end to minor mischief. For more serious trouble, a switch was used.

⁹ The "birch of justice" is the dreaded switch, or rod, that schoolmasters used to mete out formal punishment, often at an assigned time and in the front of the class. Some masters kept a variety of rods, ranging from thin to sturdy, and chose their weapon based on the nature of the infraction and the size of the offender. They were usually displayed on the wall behind the master's desk as not-so-gentle reminders. Crane chose to hang his one birch rod behind him horizontally, like a prized sword or rifle.

¹⁰ As this passage unfolds, Irving transforms the classroom into a tiny kingdom ruled over by a very petty tyrant. Ichabod Crane is "enthroned" kinglike, as he "watched all the concerns of his little literary realm," and the ferule is his "sceptre of despotic power." Taken together, this creates a wonderfully comic picture -- the clown king holding his regal staff in his hand as he rules over his petty realm. But it also plays to the disdain that Americans felt for the European tyrants whom they had so recently overthrown. So the allusion, which is primarily humorous, is also satirical. Ichabod's classroom is a very un-democratic, and by extension, unenlightened, realm.

¹¹ Now we know why all is so still in Ichabod's realm. The schoolmaster had just inflicted "some apalling act of justice" in the classroom, probably due to some flagrant misbehavior on the part of the students, which would explain the piles of contraband on his desk. The hush that has fallen over the classroom is based on fear of the schoolmaster's wrath, not academic diligence.

¹² As hard as Crane has fought to establish his authority moments earlier, he is willing to allow his classroom to fall into complete disarray and all his regal airs to disintegrate in a moment of excitement. He also has no concern about letting his pupils out an hour early. Country schools of that era were not bound by rigid time schedules.

¹³ This passage rounds out our picture of the possessions, erudition and accomplishments of the schoolmaster. His povery was demonstrated by how little he owned. His literary tastes were simple and mainly superstitious. And he was so unpracticed at writing that his attempt to copy a few poems was a disaster. The educational legacy he left in Sleepy Hollow is summed up by Hans Van Ripper, who "determined to send his children no more to school; observing that he never knew any good come of this same reading and writing."