Allusion Notes
• An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a
reference to a place, person, a work of literature,
or something that happened in history.
• Allusions can come from many sources such as
the Bible, Greek or Roman Mythology, or
Shakespeare.
• Allusions can also include paintings, opera, folk
tales, fairy tales, etc.
• The reference can be direct or may be inferred,
but an allusion broadens the reader’s
understanding of the text.
Allusion Notes
• Allusions are dependent upon the reader
knowing about the story or event that is
referenced.
• Allusions are NOT references to something
only a small group of people know. (Sally’s
smile looked like my mom’s smile.)
Allusion Example
• “When she lost her job, she acted like a
Scrooge, and refused to buy anything that
wasn’t necessary.”
Scrooge was an extremely stingy character from
Charles Dickens’, A Christmas Carol.
Allusion Example
• “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
• At our basketball game last night, we pulled a
real underdog, and I do not mean Oscar
Meyer; I mean we were Olympic-style
awesome! No one expected us to win. The
Titans (and they really are!) were the
Supermen of this year’s regular season, not
even kryptonite could stop them! Apparently,
we were their Achilles heel last night, though,
because they fell like Goliath!