What is allusion?
allusion, in literature, an implied or indirect reference to a person, event, or thing or to a part
of another text. Most allusions are based on the assumption that there is a body of
knowledge that is shared by the author and the reader and that therefore the reader will
understand the author’s referent. The word allusion comes from the late Latin allusio
meaning “a play on words” or “game” and is a derivative of the Latin word alludere,
meaning “to play around” or “to refer to mockingly.”
In traditional Western literature, allusions to figures in the Bible and from Greek mythology
are common. An allusion can be used as a straightforward device to enhance a text by
providing further meaning, but it can also be used in a more complex sense to make an
ironic comment on one thing by comparing it to something that is dissimilar. Over time, as
shared knowledge changes, allusions can also reveal the unspoken assumptions and biases
of both authors and readers.
Examples of allusion
-Achilles’ Heel In everyday speech, the phrase “Achilles’ heel” is often used metaphorically
to mean a weakness or vulnerable spot that can lead to downfall.
Chocolate was her Achilles’ heel.
Achilles was a hero in Greek mythology whose mother dipped his body into the River Styx to
prevent his death, which made him invulnerable. However, she held him by his heel, so that
part of his was still vulnerable and ultimately led to his death after he sustained a wound to
his heel.
-Einstein
This refers to the famed theoretical physicist Albert Einstein.
We’ve got an Einstein over here.
Einstein's name has become a catch-all for an exceptionally smart person.
-Cupid,
Cupid is the Roman name for the god of love. In myth, Cupid also known as Eros in Greek
mythology struck people with his arrow, which made them fall in love with a particular
person.
I’ve been struck by Cupid.
The expression “struck by Cupid” alludes to falling in love or being struck by sudden
romantic feelings.
-Pandora’s Box
The allusion to Pandora’s box is used to refer to doing something that creates problems later
on.
Don’t open Pandora’s box.
This is also a reference to Greek mythology, where Pandora was the first woman. In the
myth, she was given many gifts upon her creation, including a jar or box that contained all
the evil of the world. When Pandora opened this box out of curiosity, evil was unleashed
upon the Earth.
-Bible
(one of the most frequently alluded-to works in the Western literary canon) by referring to a
hard-partying young adult as their family’s “prodigal son.” By doing this, you communicate
to readers that the young adult squandered their family’s resources and has now returned to
their parents, seeking support.
What are the great books of the world?
1. THE BIBLE ~ 5 billion copies sold
2. QUOTATIONS FROM CHAIRMAN MAO TSE-TUNG ~ 1.1 billion copies sold
3. THE QURAN ~ 800 million copies sold
4. THE LORD OF THE RINGS ~ 155 million copies sold
5. THE LITTLE PRINCE ~ 140 million copies sold
6. HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE ~ 125 million copies sold
7. SCOUTING FOR BOYS ~ 120 million copies sold
8. AND THEN THERE WERE NONE ~ 115 million copies sold
9. THE HOBBIT ~ 110 million copies sold
10. THE DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER ~ 105 million copies sold
1 . In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
Image of In Search of Lost Time Swann's Way, the first part of A la recherche de
tempsperdu, Marcel Proust's seven-part cycle, was published in 1913. In it, Proust introduces
the themes that run through the entire work. The narrator recalls his childhood, aided by the
famous madeleine; and describes M. Swann's passion for Odette. The work is incomparable.
Edmund Wilson said "[Proust] has supplied for the first time in literature an equivalent in the
full scale for the new theory of modern physics."
2 . Ulysses by James Joyce
chronicles the passage of Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day, June 16,
1904. The title parallels and alludes to Odysseus (Latinised into Ulysses), the hero of
Homer's Odyssey (e.g., the correspondences between Leopold Bloom and Odysseus, Molly
Bloom and Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus and Telemachus). Joyce fans worldwide now
celebrate June 16 as Bloomsday.
3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
a retired country gentleman in his fifties, lives in an unnamed section of La Mancha with his
niece and a housekeeper. He has become obsessed with books of chivalry, and believes their
every word to be true, despite the fact that many of the events in them are clearly
impossible. Quixano eventually appears to other people to have lost his mind from little
sleep and food and because of so much reading
4. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved
and acclaimed novel known throughout the world, and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel
Prize–winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of
Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life
and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry
story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth,
and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America. Love and lust, war and revolution,
riches and poverty, youth and senility — the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the
search for peace and truth — these universal themes dominate the novel. Whether he is
describing an affair of passion or the voracity of capitalism and the corruption of
government, Gabriel García Márquez always writes with the simplicity, ease, andpurity that
are the mark of a master. Alternately reverential and comical, One Hundred Years of Solitude
weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling.
Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an accounting of the
history of the human race.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Image of The Great Gatsby The novel chronicles an
era that Fitzgerald himself dubbed the "Jazz Age". Following the shock and chaos of World
War I, American society enjoyed unprecedented levels of prosperity during the "roaring"
1920s as the economy soared. At the same time, Prohibition, the ban on the sale and
manufacture of alcohol as mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment, made millionaires out
of bootleggers and led to an increase in organized crime, for example the Jewish mafia.
Although Fitzgerald, like Nick Carraway in his novel, idolized the riches and glamor of the
age, he was uncomfortable with the unrestrained materialism and the lack of morality that
went with it, a kind of decadence.
5. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to
have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince
Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King,
and then taken the throne and married Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. The play vividly charts
the course of real and feigned madness—from overwhelming grief to seething rage—and
explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption.
6. The Odyssey by Homer
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part,
a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer. The poem is
fundamental to the modern Western canon. Indeed it is the second—the Iliad being the first
—extant work of Western literature. It was probably composed near the end of the eighth
century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek-speaking coastal region of what is now Turkey.
The poem mainly centers on the Greek hero Odysseus (or Ulysses, as he was known in
Roman myths) and his long journey home following the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten
years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed he has
died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors,
the Mnesteres or Proci, competing for Penelope's hand in marriage.
7. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
In 1862 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a shy Oxford mathematician with a stammer, created a
story about a little girl tumbling down a rabbit hole. Thus began the immortal adventures of
Alice, perhaps the most popular heroine in English literature. Countless scholars have tried
to define the charm of the Alice books–with those wonderfully eccentric characters the
Queen of Hearts, Tweedledum, and Tweedledee, the Cheshire Cat, Mock Turtle, the Mad
Hatter et al.–by proclaiming that they really comprise a satire on language, a political
allegory, a parody of Victorian children’s literature, even a reflection of contemporary
ecclesiastical history. Perhaps, as Dodgson might have said, Alice is no more than a dream, a
fairy tale about the trials and tribulations of growing up–or down, or all turned round–as seen
through the expert eyes of a child. The Iliad by Homer Image of The Iliad The Iliad is an epic
poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set in the Trojan War, the
ten-year siege of Ilium by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during
the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. Although the
story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the war, the Iliad mentions or allude
8. The Iliad by Homer
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set in the
Trojan War, the ten-year siege of Ilium by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles
and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior
Achilles. Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the war, the Iliad
mentions or alludes to many of the Greek legends about the siege. Along with the Odyssey,
also attributed to Homer, the Iliad is among the oldest extant works of Western literature,
and its written version is usually dated to around the eighth century BC. The Iliad contains
approximately 15,700 lines, and is written in a literary amalgam of several Greek dialects.
The authorship of the poem is disputed. 23 . Catch-
God and goddesses of Greek and Roman Mythology
GREEK AND ROMAN GODS
Greek and Roman Gods Most of the Greek Gods and Goddesses were adopted by the
ancient Romans, although in most cases there was a change of name. In the table below is a
list of the GREEK GODS and HEROES and their ROMAN equivalents:
GREEK NAME ROMAN NAME & ROLE
ZEUS JUPITER - King of the Gods
HERA JUNO- Goddess of Marriage
POSEIDON NEPTUNE- God of the Sea
CRONUS SATURN- Youngest son of Uranus, Father of Zeus
APHRODITE VENUS- Goddess of Love
HADES PLUTO- God of the Underworld
HEPHAESTUS VULCAN- God of the Forge
DEMETER CERES- Goddess of the Harvest
APOLLO APOLLO- God of Music and Medicine
ATHENA MINERVA- Goddess of Wisdom
ARTEMIS DIANA- Goddess of the Hunt
ARES MARS- God of War H
ERMES MERCURY- Messenger of the Gods
DIONYSUS BACCHUS- God of Wine
PERSEPHONE Proserpine Goddess of the Underworld EROS CUPID God of Love GAIA Terra
Goddess of Earth HYPNOS SOMNUS- God of Sleep
RHEA OPS- Mother of Zeus / Wife of Cronus
URANUS Uranus- Father of the Titans
NIKE VICTORIA- Goddess of Victory
EOS AURORA- Goddess of the Dawn
PAN FAUNUS- God of shepherds
SELENE LUNA Goddess of the Moon
HELIOS SOL- God of the Sun
HERACLES HERCULES- Son of Zeus
ODYSSEUS ULYSSES- Greek Hero
What does classical works pass for it to become a master piece?
A Masterpiece refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one
that is considered the greatest work of a person’s career or to a work outstanding creativity,
skill, or workmanship. On the literature, it is the highest recognition that a literary work can
receive.
For a classical work able to pass as a masterpiece it should posses a literacy piece that will
give an impact for the readers wherein it stimulated the thoughts from intellectual value and
may lead to mold the moral and emotional aspect.
What is classical mythology?
Classical mythology, Greco-Roman mythology, or Greek and Roman mythology is both the
body of and the study of myths from the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans as they are
used or transformed by cultural reception. Along with philosophy and political thought,
mythology represents one of the major survivals of classical antiquity throughout later
Western culture. The Greek word mythos refers to the spoken word or speech, but it also
denotes a tale, story or narrative.
Classical mythology is a term often used to designate the myths belonging to the Greek and
Roman traditions. The myths are believed to have been acquired first by oral tradition,
entering since Homer and Hesiod (ca. 700 BC) the literate era; later works by those who
studied or collected the myths, or sometimes all literary works relating to mythology, are
known as mythography and those who wrote them as mythographers.[4] A classical myth as
it appears in later Western culture is usually a syncretis
Philosophy and myths
After the rise of philosophy, history, prose and rationalism in the late fifth century B.C.E.,
the fate of myth became uncertain. While poets and dramatists were reworking the
myths in different artistic genres, Greek historians and philosophers were beginning to
criticize them.[8]
By the sixth century B.C.E., a few radical philosophers, like Xenophanes of Colophon, Pre-
Socratics or pre-Socratic philosophers were the earliest Western philosophers, active
during the fifth and sixth centuries B.C.E. in ancient Greece. Gods in Greek
mythology were like humans. They exhibited immorality in acts such as stealing,
deception, and adultery. These gods were distinguished from humans only for their
immortality. Xenophanes criticized that these misconducts were blameworthy even
among humans and should not be ascribable to the divine. He found the origin of these
misconceptions of gods in human anthropocentric projections of human images to the
divine.
were already calling the tales of the poets "blasphemous lies." Xenophanes in particular
complained about the immorality of the divinities, stating that Homer and Hesiod
attributed to the gods "all that is shameful and disgraceful among men; they steal,
commit adultery, and deceive one another." [39]
This line of thought found its most sweeping expression in Plato's Republic and Laws. In
making this case, Plato derided them as "old wives' chatter," created his
own allegorical myths (such as the vision of Er in the Republic), objected to their central
role in literature, and attacked the traditional tales of the gods' tricks, thefts and
adulteries as signifiers of basest immorality. [8][40] Plato's criticism was the first serious
challenge to the Homeric mythological tradition. [37] Continuing this argument,
Aristotle also criticized the pre-Socratic quasi-mythical philosophical approach and
underscored that "Hesiod and the theological writers were concerned only with what
seemed plausible to themselves, and had no respect for us [...] But it is not worth taking
seriously writers who show off in the mythical style; as for those who do proceed by
proving their assertions, we must cross-examine them." [38]
Nevertheless, even Plato did not manage to wean himself and his society from the
influence of myth; even his own characterization of Socrates is based on the traditional
Homeric and tragic patterns, which were used by the philosopher to praise the righteous
life of his teacher:[41]
But perhaps someone might say: "Are you then not ashamed, Socrates, of having
followed such a pursuit, that you are now in danger of being put to death as a result?"
But I should make to him a just reply: "You do not speak well, Sir, if you think a man in
whom there is even a little merit ought to consider danger of life or death, and not rather
regard this only, when he does things, whether the things he does are right or wrong and
the acts of a good or a bad man. For according to your argument all the demigods would
be bad who died at Troy, including the son of Thetis, who so despised danger, in
comparison with enduring any disgrace, that when his mother (and she was a goddess)
said to him, as he was eager to slay Hector, something like this, I believe,
My son, if you avenge the death of your friend Patroclus and kill Hector, you yourself shall
die; for straightway, after Hector, is death appointed unto you (Hom. Il. 18.96)…"
Hanson and Heath (Hanson and Heath argue that if we lose our knowledge of the Greeks, then we lose our
understanding of who we are.) estimate that Plato's rejection of the Homeric tradition was not
favorably received by the grassroots Greek civilization. [37] As a result, the old myths were
kept alive in local cults and in the arts, where they continued to influence poetry and to
provide the primary subject matter for painting and sculpture. [38]
In an intriguing (and less adversarial) context, the fifth-
century B.C.E. tragedian Euripides often revisited and reinterpreted the old traditions:
examining them, mocking them, and, through the voice of his characters, injecting them
with notes of doubt. Regardless, the subjects of his plays were taken, without exception,
from myth. When he chooses to attack these traditions, Euripides mainly impugns the
myths about the gods, beginning with an objection similar to the one previously
expressed by Xenophanes: the gods, as traditionally represented, are far too
crassly anthropomorphic.[39]
