ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -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.

Detailed explanation-2: -An example of an indirect allusion would be if I said something was like “a dog chasing its tail”. This is because it refers back to a common phrase about someone being caught up in their own thoughts and doing something repetitively until they get frustrated with themselves.

Detailed explanation-3: -An allusion is a reference to a well-known person, character, place, or event that a writer makes to deepen the reader’s understanding of their work by creating an association between the work and the reference.

Detailed explanation-4: -Allusions are generally regarded as brief but purposeful references, within a literary text, to a person, place, event, or to another work of literature.

Detailed explanation-5: -So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. Here, iconic American poet Robert Frost makes an allusion to the Biblical Garden of Eden ("so Eden sank to grief") to strengthen this idea that nothing-not even Paradise-can last forever.