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Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Chapter 2, Part 4
Explanation and Analysis—Dante :
Joyce's first allusion to Dante comprises a brief mention in a summary of Stephen's childhood education in Chapter 2, Part 4:
The memory of his childhood suddenly grew dim. He tried to call forth some of its vivid moments but could not. He recalled only names. Dante, Parnell, Clane, Clongowes. A little boy had been taught geography by an old woman who kept two brushes in her wardrobe.
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Chapter 4, Part 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Myth of Daedalus:
The most important allusion in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is, of course, to the Greek myth of Daedalus. Joyce named Stephen Dedalus after the mythical inventor Daedalus who creates wings made of feathers and wax to escape from Crete where he and Icarus (his son) are held captive by King Minos. Despite his triumphant artistry, the story has a tragic ending. Icarus ignores his father and flies too close to the sun, causing his wings to melt. He falls into the sea and dies.
In Chapter 4, Part 3, Stephen implicitly compares a flying form in the sky to an artist, which is a subtle allusion to the story of Daedalus and Icarus:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Was [the flying form] a symbol of the artist forging anew in his workshop out of the sluggish matter of the earth a new soaring impalpable being? … His soul was soaring in an air beyond the world and the body he knew was purified in a breath and delivered of incertitude and made radiant and commingled with the element of the spirit.
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Chapter 5, Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—St. Thomas Aquinas:
Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Dominican friar, theologian, and philosopher who is most famous for writing five key arguments in favor of God's existence. In Chapter 5, Part 1, Stephen quotes St. Thomas Aquinas:
Unlock with LitCharts A+— What the beautiful is is another question. —
He [the dean] rubbed his hands [...] — Can you solve that question now? — he asked.
— Aquinas — answered Stephen — says pulcra sunt quce visa placent.
— This fire before us [...] will be pleasing to the eye. Will it therefore be beautiful? —
— In so far as it is apprehended by the sight [...] it will be beautiful. But Aquinas also says Bonum est in quod tendit appetitus. In so far as it satisfies the animal craving for warmth fire is a good.
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Explanation and Analysis—Ovid's Metamorphoses:
Joyce's work contains many allusions. For instance, Ovid's Metamorphoses appears twice in the novel. Metamorphoses is a narrative poem in 15 books written in Latin in the year 8 CE, and it chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar. The poem's epic mythical-historical framework lends credence to Joyce's novel as a worthy epic in its own right. The epigraph of Chapter 1 comes from its eighth book:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Et ignotas animum dimittit in artes.” (OVID, Metamorphoses, VIII., 18).
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Chapter 5, Part 3
Explanation and Analysis—Birds:
In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, birds are often associated with changes, journeys, or gods. This motif also reminds the reader of Stephen's lofty aspirations. In Chapter 5, Part 3, Stephen observes a flock of birds:
Unlock with LitCharts A+They came back with shrill cries over the jutting shoulder of the house, flying darkly against the fading air. What birds were they? He thought that they must be swallows who had come back from the south. Then he was to go away? For they were birds ever going and coming, building ever an unlasting home under the eaves of men’s houses and ever leaving the homes they had built to wander.
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