Allusion
Definition:
An allusion is a figure of speech whereby the author refers to a subject matter such as a place, event, or literary work by way of a passing reference. It is up to the reader to make a connection to the subject being mentioned.
Example:
It’s no wonder everyone refers to Mary as another Mother Teresa in the making; she loves to help and care after people everywhere- from the streets to her own friends.
In the example the author uses the mention of Mother Teresa to indicate the sort of qualities that Mary has.
Comments
27 comments postedHave any of you seen the TV series "Psych"? The characters use thousands of references and allusions in every episode. They're often very irrelevant though.
"When the moon rose late in the night, people said it was refusing food, as a sullen husband refuses his wife's food when they have quarreled."
Is this an allusion or something else perhaps?
"I can only be pleased that he seems to have forgotten my earlier fall from grace."
The term "fall from grace" is alluding to Lucifer's fall from grace in the Bible after he was exiled from heaven. This is taken to mean a falling of status from relatively good to bad.
she walked through the halls as if it were her Garden of Eden
He was a real Romeo with the ladies.
is this an allusion because he posses the same qualities as romeo saying he is very sweet and heroic?
yes
“He was a real Romeo with the ladies.” Romeo was a character in Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, and was very romantic in expressing his love for Juliet.
need more meanings in allusion
is when the writer is given a information that the reader is suppose to know like
Bless me, Ultima
" Then the owl cried; it sang ti millionn stars that dotted the dark blue sky, the Virgin's gown. All was watched over, all was cared for. I slept."
Who is the Virgin's gown, you wonder? but actually he talking about the virgin marry.
This is another example of an allusion, found in Fahrenheit 451:
"Well," said Beatty, "now you did it. Old Montag wanted to fly near the sun and now that he burnt his damn wings, he wonders why..."
This is an allusion to the old Greek myth in which the inventor Daedalus makes wings for himself and his son, Icarus, to escape a tower in which they are held hostage. Even after his father's warnings, Icarus flies too high and the sun melts the wax in the wings. Icarus falls into the ocean and drowns.
"Even sports newsletters allude to [Robert] Frost. When a New York Giants tackle was diagnosed as having cancer, Inside Football commented, 'The rest, since there was no more to build on there, turned to their affairs.' That's an allusion to a 1916 Frost poem about a boy's accidental death: 'No more to build on there. And they, since they/ Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.' (The poem's title is 'Out, Out--,' itself an allusion by Frost to Shakespeare; after Lady Macbeth dies, Macbeth speaks of life's shortness, 'Out, out, brief candle!')"
I don't get it.
Chris Brown being referred as the next Michael is a great example of an allusion device, where 'Michael Jackson' is the subject of the allusion device.
Now that is a great example. Thanks!
dont be a dead horse
Chris Brown is referred to as the next Michael Jackson because of his ability to rock the stage with his amazing singing and dancing abilities.
Could someone write more examples please?
Could an allusion also be symbolism? Is it interchangeable?
It's almost like a metaphor
Also similie?
He's a kind boy, kind as Ghandi.
i'm wet, wet as a rag
This is just a simile. Saying rag is not alluding to anything specific.
Thats a simile
Try reading a little more carefully and not just stop after you read "as" and say oh wait thats a simile!
Yes, but a simile with a allusion comparison.
an*
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