Rip Van Winkle and Other Stories Lesson Plan

Washington Irving was born in 1783 in New York City. He was the youngest of eleven children of a wealthy merchant father, a Scottish immigrant who had sided with the rebels during the American Revolution. From an early age, Washington was influenced by the literary tastes of his older brothers William and Peter. When he graduated from private school in 1798, he went into a law office as an attempt to avoid business, which he hated. He was quickly bored by the law; even so, he worked in various legal offices until 1804. During this time he also wrote articles for The Morning Chronicle and The Corrector, two newspapers edited by his brother Peter. From 1802-1803 he wrote a series of...