Allusion

Lesson 5

“Snow White” Once there was a lovely virgincalled Snow White.Say she was thirteen.Her stepmother,a beauty in her own right,though eaten, of course, by age,would hear of no beauty surpassing her own.Beauty is a simple passion,but, oh my friends, in the endyou will dance the fire dance in iron shoes.The stepmother had a mirror to which she referred--something like the weather forecast--a mirror that proclaimed the one beauty of the land.She would ask,Looking glass upon the wall,who is fairest of us all?And the mirror would reply,You are the fairest of us all.Pride pumped in her like poison.

Suddenly one day the mirror replied,Queen, you are full fair, 'tis true,but Snow White is fairer than you.Until that moment Snow Whitehad been no more importantthan a dust mouse under the bed.But now the queen saw brown spots on her handand four whiskers over her lipso she condemned Snow Whiteto be hacked to death.Bring me her heart, she said to the hunter,and I will salt it and eat it.The hunter, however, let his prisoner goand brought a boar's heart back to the castle.The queen chewed it up like a cube steak.Now I am fairest, she said,lapping her slim white fingers.

--by Anne Sexton

“The Names”Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night. A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze, And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows, I started with A, with Ackerman, as it happened, Then Baxter and Calabro, Davis and Eberling, names falling into place As droplets fell through the dark. Names printed on the ceiling of the night. Names slipping around a watery bend. Twenty-six willows on the banks of a stream. In the morning, I walked out barefoot Among thousands of flowers Heavy with dew like the eyes of tears, And each had a name -- Fiori inscribed on a yellow petal Then Gonzalez and Han, Ishikawa and Jenkins. Names written in the air And stitched into the cloth of the day. A name under a photograph taped to a mailbox. Monogram on a torn shirt, I see you spelled out on storefront windows And on the bright unfurled awnings of this city. I say the syllables as I turn a corner -- Kelly and Lee, Medina, Nardella, and O'Connor. When I peer into the woods, I see a thick tangle where letters are hidden As in a puzzle concocted for children. Parker and Quigley in the twigs of an ash,

Rizzo, Schubert, Torres, and Upton, Secrets in the boughs of an ancient maple. Names written in the pale sky. Names rising in the updraft amid buildings. Names silent in stone Or cried out behind a door. Names blown over the earth and out to sea. In the evening -- weakening light, the last swallows. A boy on a lake lifts his oars. A woman by a window puts a match to a candle, And the names are outlined on the rose clouds -- Vanacore and Wallace, (let X stand, if it can, for the ones unfound) Then Young and Ziminsky, the final jolt of Z. Names etched on the head of a pin. One name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel. A blue name needled into the skin. Names of citizens, workers, mothers and fathers, The bright-eyed daughter, the quick son. Alphabet of names in a green field. Names in the small tracks of birds. Names lifted from a hat Or balanced on the tip of the tongue. Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory. So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.

--By Billy Collins

Allusion

• A reference to something in history or previous literature

• Can appear as an initial quotation, a passing mention of a name, or a phrase borrowed from another writer

Allusion Examples

• "I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-el, to save the Planet Earth."

(Senator Barack Obama, speech at a fund-raiser for Catholic charities, October 16, 2008)

• “Harriet Tubman was called the Moses of her time”

BackgroundMost poets have an audience in mind when they write—a reader who will understand and appreciate their work. In trying to communicate with that audience, poets sometimes use overt or subtle references—allusions—to tap shared cultural memories, or enlarge the scope of their work. Allusions may appear in a poem as an initial quotation, a passing mention of a name, or a phrase borrowed from another writer—often carrying the meanings and implications of the original. When, for instance, poets allude to a person, image, or event in Homer’s Iliad or the Bible, they presume readers will be familiar with those texts. In the same way, poets amplify the scope of their work by connecting images and ideas to outside sources.

Emily Dickinson drew from Greek and Roman myths, the Bible, and British writers for inspiration. Her poetry is rife with references to religion, botany, biology, history, art, music, and literature (especially Shakespeare). For example, her poem “All overgrown by cunning moss” refers to the grave (“little cage”) of Currer Bell (the pseudonym of Charlotte Brontë) in Haworth, Yorkshire County, England—a detail that would have been familiar to readers due to the popularity of Brontë’s 1847 novel, Jane Eyre.

Dickinson and Allusion

• Dickinson made numerous references to the Bible, Shakespeare, Greek and Roman myths and other British writers

• What allusion does she make in “All overgrown by cunning moss”

“All Overgrown by Cunning Moss”All overgrown by cunning moss,All interspersed with weed,The little cage of "Currer Bell"In quiet "Haworth" laid.

Gathered from many wanderings—Gethsemane can tellThro' what transporting anguishShe reached the Asphodel!

Soft falls the sounds of EdenUpon her puzzled ear—Oh what an afternoon for Heaven,When "Bronte" entered there!

By Emily Dickinson

Dickinson Examples with AllusionHe is alive, this morning --By Emily Dickinson He is alive, this morning –He is alive -- and awake –Birds are resuming for Him –Blossoms -- dress for His Sake.Bees -- to their Loaves of HoneyAdd an Amber CrumbHim -- to regale -- Me -- Only –Motion, and am dumb.

Of Paul and Silas it is saidBy Emily Dickinson Of Paul and Silas it is saidThere were in Prison laidBut when they went to take them outThey were not there instead. Security the same insuresTo our assaulted Minds --The staple must be optionalThat an Immortal binds.

Now you try…

• Get into groups of four• Read “A little East of Jordan”• Can you agree on what allusion is being made?• Now read Genesis 32:24-32• Answer these questions:– Do you think Dickinson felt that she, at times, was

wrestling with God?– What might she mean when she says Jacob “had

worsted God? Explain

“A Little East of Jordan”A little East of Jordan,Evangelists record,A Gymnast and an AngelDid wrestle long and hard –

Till morning touching mountain –And Jacob, waxing strong,The Angel begged permissionTo Breakfast – to return!

Not so, said cunning Jacob!"I will not let thee goExcept thou bless me" – Stranger!The which acceded to –

Light swung the silver fleeces"Peniel" Hills beyond,And the bewildered GymnastFound he had worsted God!

--By Emily Dickinson

Group Practice

• Group 1: “Abraham to kill him”• Group 2: “A monkey sprang down from a tree”• Group 3: “Two brothers devised what a sight”• Group 4: “The Lipstick in the Mirror”• Group 5: “Never Again Would Birds’ Song”• Group 6: “The Bachelor’s Soliloquy”

WRITING EXERCISE!Limericks

LimericksLimericks are humorous poems that are structured in five lines. The first and second lines rhyme, as do the third and fourth. The fifth line yields a surprise ending or humorous statement and rhymes with the first two lines.

There once was a man from Beijing. All his life he hoped to be King. So he put on a crown, Which quickly fell down. That small silly man from Beijing.

Write a limerick in which you make an allusion to a current famous figure or event in American culture. Type it up and bring to next class period.

Homework

• Does your poem contain any allusions? If so, analyze and discuss them in an appropriate section in your Prezi.

• If not, work on discussing how the theme(s) in your poem is similar to the theme(s) in another piece of literature.

To Turn In Next Class Period

• Screenshot of Allusion section in Prezi• Readable screenshots of entire presentation;

don’t worry about images and prettiness factor right now (get your entire content in there please!)

• Typed Allusion Limerick