Questions tagged [allusions]
Questions about references to other works, external incidents, etc. in literature. Use this tag with the relevant author and work tags if applicable.
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Who is Thoreau quoting (or paraphrasing) here in Walden?
The passage in question is in Walden's conclusion:
The philosopher said "From an army of three divisions one can take
away its general, and put it in disorder; from the man the most abject
and ...
- 63
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3
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Which Upanishad is TS Eliot referencing with "Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata." and why?
Specifically the last lines of the Wasteland:
Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.
Shantih shantih shantih
[The Wasteland]
The poem was written in 1922, and the invocation can be taken as a ...
- 4,273
5
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1
answer
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Is there a "Romeo and Juliet / Romen and Junior" connection drawn in "Love"?
Two major characters in Toni Morrison's Love are local youth Romen and street-smart Junior, who carry on a love affair while both are employed at the Cosey household.
In a 2003 review, Elaine ...
- 3,148
11
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0
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Was Isidora's fate in Melmoth the Wanderer directly inspired by Faust?
When reading Charles Robert Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer I couldn't help but notice that Isidora's fate largely resembled Gretchen's in Goethe's Faust and especially the endings of both storylines ...
10
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1
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Are there any debated authorship references in Thursday Next series?
Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series is a sort of fantasy about literature. Much of the story line about the books and literary characters that appear in this series is obviously made up, but there ...
- 1,073
17
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1
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How does the golden bough in "Sailing to Byzantium" relate to the story in the Aeneid, if at all?
According to Wikipedia of W.B. Yeats' "Sailing to Byzantium" is
a metaphor for a spiritual journey. Yeats explores his thoughts and musings on how immortality, art, and the human spirit may ...
- 1,355
26
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4
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What reference is Shakespeare making in Act 2 Scene 2 of Macbeth?
In Act 2 Scene 2 of Macbeth there is this line.
What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes.
Someone two days ago told me this is a reference to a different piece of literature. I didn't ...
- 379
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5
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Did the Lord of the Flies have any kind of religious reference more specific than just the Devil?
Lord of the Flies contains an absurd amount of biblical references, one of which being the titular character. The creature is obviously supposed to be some kind of demon or devil, but is this a ...
- 6,838