Piranesi
by Susanna Clarke
✓

or to save your progress

Piranesi: Foreshadowing 1 key example

Definition of Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved directly or indirectly, by making... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the... read full definition

Key Examples in Piranesi

Part 2
Explanation and Analysis—The Birds' Warning:

Not only does Piranesi speak to the animate and inanimate beings that inhabit the House, but they speak back to him. In this scene from Part 2, birds deliver Piranesi prophetic messages that foreshadow later events:

An angel with a trumpet and a ship. An angel with a trumpet suggests a message. [...] The ship suggests travelling long distances. A message coming from afar.

A book and clouds. A book contains Writing. Clouds hide what is there. Writing that is somehow obscure.

A child and mice. The child represents the quality of Innocence. The mice are devouring the grain. Little by little it is diminished. Innocence that is worn down or eroded.

So this, as far as I can tell, is what the birds told me. A message from afar. Obscure Writing. Innocence eroded.