Allusion

Allusion
An allusion is when a person or author makes an indirect reference in speech, text, or song to an event or figure. Often the allusions made are to past events or figures, but sometimes allusions are made to current famous people or events.

The allusion does not give much detail about the reference-it does not describe things in detail. Rather, because these events are momentous-significant historically, culturally, or politically-the speaker or author expects that people in general would understand the allusion without explanation.

Allusions are often used within a metaphor or simile. The comparison alludes to an event or person of significance that everyone should understand.

Allusions often make reference to previous works of literature, especially references to the Bible and Greek or Roman mythology.

Examples of Allusion:
Examples of Allusions:

1. Your backyard is a Garden of Eden. (Biblical allusion)

2. I guess I should see this message about a new job as my burning bush. (Biblical Allusion)

3. When you feel betrayed by a friend, you can say, "You too, Brutus?" (allusion to Julius Caesar-Brutus betrayed Caesar)

4. You're a regular Einstein. (allusion to a historical figure)

5. When your parents learn about your new plan to raise money, it's going to sink like the Titanic. (allusion to a historical event)

6. You are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. (reference to Atlas in myth)

7. That man is so narcissistic. (reference to Narcissus in mythology)

8. Don't be a Scrooge! (reference to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)

9. Potato chips are my diet's Achilles heel. (reference to Achilles in mythology)

10. Many states have laws that protect Good Samaritan's. (reference to the Bible)

Alliteration

Alliteration
Alliteration is the figurative term for when a beginning consonant sound is repeated over and over in a poem or text.

Alliteration is often used to provide a certain rhythmic sound to the poetry. The repetition of a specific sound can also affect the mood. For example, a repeated "w" sound often gives a lulling mood. The repetition of a harder sound-like "p" or "b"-sets a different mood.

Alliteration is heavily used in "tongue twisters."

Examples of Alliteration:
Examples of Alliteration:

1. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. (repeated p sound)

2. Sally sells seashells by the sea shore. (repeated s sound)

3. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood. (repeated w and c/ch sounds)

4. The sly, slithering snake snuck into the shed. (repeated s sound)

5. The river rushed rapidly over the rocks. (repeated r sound)

Example of Alliteration from Literature:

1. From Romeo and Juliet: "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes . . ." (repeated f sound)

2. From "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe: "Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary" (repeated w sound)

3. William Blake's "Tyger": "burning bright," "frame thy fearful symmetry"

4. Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends": "We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow / and watch where the chalk-white arrows go" (repeated w sound)

Allegory

Allegory
An allegory is a text that has a hidden meaning. It can be a story or a poem, and the meaning behind it is usually political or moral. In an allegory, the characters often symbolize a concept or idea from real life.

An allegory is a type of extended metaphor. The story or poem is used to draw an extended comparison between two different things-a character or event in the text and something in real life.

Many works of art are also allegorical, with the pictures representing people or ideas in real life.

Allegory makes use of symbolism, as things in the text represent concepts from life. What makes allegory different from symbolism is that an allegory is the narrative while symbolism is the device used.

Examples of Allegory:
Examples of Allegories

1. Orwell's Animal Farm-animals in the story and their interactions stand for political figures and events

2. Spenser's The Faerie Queene-an allegorical poem in which the knights represent virtues of chastity and holiness.

3. T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland"-an allegorical poem relating to war

4. The Harry Potter series can be read as a Christian allegory-allegorical fight between good and evil with Harry as a Christ figure.

5. Milton's Paradise Lost is another allegorical text relating to Christianity, good versus evil, God versus Satan.

6. The Hunger Games series can be read as a political allegory that makes a statement about our modern society (e.g. The Capitol is like Hollywood; obsession with reality TV).

7. The Lord of the Flies is another allegorical text relating to the effects of war on society.