49 pages 1 hour read

Washington Irving

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1820

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Symbols & Motifs

The Church Bridge

When the Headless Horseman chases Ichabod Crane through the forest, Ichabod believes that once he crosses the bridge that leads to the church, he will be safe. He believes this because in Brom Bones’s story, the Horseman disappeared at the same spot (77). Bridges are symbolic passageways, and this bridge, situated between the foreboding forest and the safety of the church, symbolizes the passage between light and dark, the living and the dead.

The stream that separates the forest from the church’s sunny, peaceful knoll is filled with broken rocks and fallen trees. A gloom hangs over the bridge during the day, and a “fearful darkness” consumes it at night (62). While the church itself is peaceful, Irving states that it is “a favorite haunt of troubled spirits” (62).

The Horseman is buried there, and some townspeople claim to see his horse tethered among the gravestones.

Ichabod enjoys going to church. He sings with the choir and uses the occasion to entertain the town’s ladies. Churches are usually symbols of safety, but in the tradition of gothic literature where things take on their opposite qualities, the bridge only leads Ichabod to his fate.

Related Titles

By Washington Irving

Study Guide

logo

The Devil And Tom Walker

Washington Irving

The Devil And Tom Walker

Washington Irving