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Allusion
Explanation and Analysis—William Cowper:
Like with Shakespeare, Austen includes allusions to the writer William Cowper in order to give readers hints about which characters might be good romantic matches. William Cowper was an English poet who wrote lyrically about the English countryside during the late 18th century. The first time his name comes up is when Mrs. Dashwood gently chastises Marianne for forcing Edward to read Cowper aloud to them, and Marianne makes it clear that any future partner of hers would relish such an experience:
“He would certainly have done more justice to simple and elegant prose. I thought so at the time; but you would give him Cowper.”
“Nay, mama, if he is not to be animated by Cowper!—but we must allow for difference of taste. Elinor has not my feelings, and therefore she may overlook it, and be happy with him. But it would have broke my heart had I loved him, to hear him read with so little sensibility.”
As Elinor is the character with “sense,” she cares less about how her potential husband reads romantic poetry aloud, whereas Marianne—the sensitive and emotional character that she is—wants her future partner to enjoy it the way that she does. In fact, as Elinor makes clear a few chapters later, one of the first topics of conversation Marianne raised with Willoughby after meeting him was his views on Cowper:
“Well Marianne,” said Elinor, as soon as he had left them, “for one morning I think you have done pretty well. You have already ascertained Mr. Willoughby’s opinion in almost every matter of importance. You know what he thinks of Cowper and Scott; you are certain of his estimating their beauties as he ought.”
Here, Austen shows that Marianne has (seemingly) found the potential partner she was looking for—a man who appreciates the “beauties” of such expressive writing like Cowper’s. Still, it is notable that Willoughby ends up being the wrong match for Marianne after all, and that she ends up with Colonel Brandon, an unexpressive man much like Edward. It is precisely Willoughby’s passionate nature that leads him to impregnate another woman and then flee, abandoning Marianne in the process. From this experience, she learns that it takes time to genuinely ascertain someone’s character, and that being well-matched is not the same as enjoying the same poetry.
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