ALLUSION NOTES
What is an allusion?
What is an allusion?
An allusion is a reference to
something or someone.
It is not the same as the word
illusion. Illusion is when your
eyes play tricks on you and
you think you see something
that is not really there.
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Where can I see and hear allusions?
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Commercials
Movies
Books
The store
School
The mall
Just about anywhere
Allusions are all
around us. People
use them every day.
Most allusions come from one of the
following sources:
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The Bible
Mythology
History
A Culture
Shakespeare
Literary
A Biblical Allusion
A reference to a character, story, place, or scripture
from The Bible.
Example1:
“He was a Good Samaritan yesterday when he
helped the lady start her car.” This refers to the
biblical story of the Good Samaritan.
Example 2:
“This place is like a Garden of Eden.” The Garden of
Eden was the paradise God made for Adam and
Eve.
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A Mythological Allusion
A reference to Greek or Roman Mythology. This can
be a reference to a god or goddess, or a mythical
hero or creature.
Example :
“Chocolate was her Achilles’ heel.” This means that her
weakness was her love of chocolate. Achilles is a
character in Greek mythology who was invincible.
His mother dipped him in magical water when he
was a baby, and she held him by the heel. The
magic protected him all over, except for his heel.
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Example # 2 of Mythological Allusions
This is an allusion to the
Greek warrior Ajax, who
was known for his skills in
battle in Homer’s book,
The Iliad
A Historical Allusion
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A reference to a historical person, place, or event.
Example:
This is an allusion to Abraham
Lincoln. If you were not familiar
with the US presidents, you might
not know who “Honest Abe” is.
Example # 2 of Historical Allusions
These are lyrics from a song:
Can you guess who they’re singing about?
Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride
A Cultural Allusion
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A reference to a person, place, event, or thing
within a specific culture. If someone is not familiar
with that culture, he or she will probably not
understand the allusion.
Some cultural allusions will overlap with historical,
biblical, literary, Shakespearean, and mythological
allusions.
Example of a Cultural Allusion
# 1 “You’re killing me Smalls.” – Quote from the
movie The Sandlot.
#2 He’s as jolly as Old Saint Nick. - reference to
Santa Claus
Example # 3 Cultural Allusion
“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!”
This is an allusion to The Wizard of Oz.
A Shakespearean Allusion
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A reference to one of William Shakespeare’s
characters or a reference to one of his quotes.
Example # 1
“ Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears…”
Quote from Julius Caesar
Example: # 2
“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”
“He was a real Romeo with the ladies.”
A Literary Allusion
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A reference to any character, author, or quote from
any piece of literature throughout history; however,
literary allusions usually refer to classic pieces of
literature.
Example # 1“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.
Example # 2 Literary Allusion
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“I was surprised his nose was not growing like
Pinocchio’s.” This refers to the story of Pinocchio,
where his nose grew whenever he told a lie. It is
from The Adventures of Pinocchio, written by Carlo
Collodi.