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Literary Devices
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 6
Explanation and Analysis—Phaethon the Cab Driver:
In the novel's sixth chapter, a large group from the Pension go on an outing to Fiesole with Mr. Eager. They are divided between two carriages, one of which the narrator claims is driven by Phaethon:
It was Phaethon who drove them to Fiesole that memorable day, a youth all irresponsibility and fire, recklessly urging his master’s horses up the stony hill. Mr Beebe recognized him at once. Neither the Ages of Faith nor the Age of Doubt had touched him; he was Phaethon in Tuscany driving a cab. And it was Persephone whom he asked leave to pick up on the way, saying that she was his sister — Persephone, tall and slender and pale, returning with the spring to her mother’s cottage, and still shading her eyes from the unaccustomed light.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Transcendentalists:
In the tenth chapter, Lucy finds out that Cecil has obstructed her efforts to get the Miss Alans to rent one of Sir Harry Otway's villas and instead prompted him to rent it out to a father and son with the familiar name Emerson. She asks Freddy what he knows about them, and Mrs Honeychurch joins the conversation, making an allusion to the transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I was merely going to remark, Freddy, that I trusted they were no relations of Emerson the philosopher, a most trying man. Pray, does that satisfy you?
Related Themes:
Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Transcendentalists:
In the tenth chapter, Lucy finds out that Cecil has obstructed her efforts to get the Miss Alans to rent one of Sir Harry Otway's villas and instead prompted him to rent it out to a father and son with the familiar name Emerson. She asks Freddy what he knows about them, and Mrs Honeychurch joins the conversation, making an allusion to the transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I was merely going to remark, Freddy, that I trusted they were no relations of Emerson the philosopher, a most trying man. Pray, does that satisfy you?
Related Themes:
Chapter 20
Explanation and Analysis—Phaethon the Cab Driver:
In the novel's sixth chapter, a large group from the Pension go on an outing to Fiesole with Mr. Eager. They are divided between two carriages, one of which the narrator claims is driven by Phaethon:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It was Phaethon who drove them to Fiesole that memorable day, a youth all irresponsibility and fire, recklessly urging his master’s horses up the stony hill. Mr Beebe recognized him at once. Neither the Ages of Faith nor the Age of Doubt had touched him; he was Phaethon in Tuscany driving a cab. And it was Persephone whom he asked leave to pick up on the way, saying that she was his sister — Persephone, tall and slender and pale, returning with the spring to her mother’s cottage, and still shading her eyes from the unaccustomed light.
Related Themes:
