Washington Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Ambrose Bierce's Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge have very different writing styles. Irving wrote with many details, almost too many, in my opinion. Bierce includes details as well, but they are important to the story, which to me was not the case with Irving's abundant details.
Another huge difference is Bierce's use of realism. Irving exaggerates immensely with his descriptions of people, places, etc. A good example of this is how he describes Ichabod Crane. Bierce, however, states things just as they are and doesn't include lengthy exaggerations.
Irving's writing is very Gothic. He includes details and descriptions that give it a feeling of spookiness and mystery. By not clearing telling what happens at the end of the story, he leaves the reader to decide for himself. But Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is written completely realistically. There is no mood in the story, just documentation.
I enjoyed reading Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge better than I did Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I didn't really like Irving's over-abundance of descriptions, and I wasn't as drawn into the story as I was with Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.
I like your thought about how The Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge is just documentation, while The Legend of Sleepy Hollow leaves the writter to decide for himself. Irving & Bierce's writting styles are so different! Bierce also gives us more suspense than Irving does.
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ReplyDeleteI agree, Owl Creek Bridge was much better. It seemed like Sleepy Hollow could have been written in about 2 paragraphs but Owl Creek Bridge was much more tightly written.
ReplyDeleteI think that the character is more relatable in Owl Creek Bridge. The lack of extensive character detail makes it easy to identify with Peyton, as I can transpose my own thoughts into the story and think of how I could react in his situation.