Previous
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 3
Explanation and Analysis—Parish Boy's Progress:
The full title of the novel, Oliver Twist, Or, the Parish Boy's Progress, is an allusion to John Bunyan's wildly popular Pilgrim's Progress (1678). Bunyan's text describes the trials its main character, the aptly-named Christian, undergoes on the way to the Celestial City. Christian's trials are an allegory for the spiritual trials all Christians must undergo on the way to heaven.
Related Themes:
Chapter 48
Explanation and Analysis—Macbeth:
In Chapter 48, when Sikes attempts to escape after killing Nancy, an allusion to Shakespeare's Macbeth heightens the stakes of Sikes's situation:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Up and down the ladders, upon the roofs of buildings, over floors that quaked and trembled with his weight, to under the lee of falling bricks and stones,—in every part of that great fire was he; but he bore a charmed life, and had neither scratch nor bruise, nor weariness nor thought, till morning dawned again, and only smoke and blackened ruins remained.
Related Themes:
