Henry Wadsworth Longfellow helps us discover the meaning of a true Romantic hero. In his poems A "Psalm of Life" and "Excelsior," we discover what makes someone a Romantic hero and we are able to define this title. To help us further illustrate what a Romantic hero is, Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" tells the story of Rip and portrays the protagonist as a Romantic hero at times. However, at others times, Rip is as far from a Romantic hero as one can get. Throughout Longfellow's two poems, we will be able to characterize what a true Romantic hero is and with the help of Irving's work, we will see how one is or is not a Romantic hero and why