Be A Better Writer--ALLUSION
Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 8:38 pm
An allusion is a reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or even some other branch of culture.
Allusion is a tricky little device; you have to know your audience. If I write:
Dexter thought Hilda was a gorgeous creature; he could just imagine her standing at her balcony, pining for him.
…it’s all well and good if my reader recognizes the allusion to Romeo and Juliet, but if my reader doesn’t, she’ll just be left scratching her head—where did Hilda get a balcony?
But if your reader knows what you’re alluding to, using allusion is a great way to “show, not tell.” For example, I could write:
Abner was a big guy. He was gentle and simple, but if he got upset, he could be terrifying.
OR, using allusion, I could write:
Abner was the kind of guy who you just expected to have a dead mouse in his pocket, just because it felt soft.
If you haven’t read Of Mice and Men, you’ll have no idea what that means, but if you have read it, you’ll have an instant picture of Abner, and all that is implied by his comparison to Lenny in the novel.
If you know that your audience is likely to be Christians with a working knowledge of scripture, you can use biblical allusions, referring to a character as a good Samaritan or saying that a beleaguered character felt as if he’d spent three days in the belly of a whale.
An allusion can be just a few words in a sentence, or an entire piece can allude to another, almost paying homage to it by either satirizing it, or borrowing its style, its characters, or its plot. It can be very direct, mentioning the other word and its author directly. Or it can be quite subtle, as in the first few examples I’ve given here.
Why might you want to use allusion in your writing?
1. As I mentioned earlier, by using an allusion, you can show rather than tell.
2. It’s a way of helping your reader to make connections and to draw some thoughtful conclusions about your characters or their motivations. If I write, Jan said, “I love this tofu lasagna! It’s delicious!” She immediately felt her nose, to see if it was growing, my readers can deduce that Jan was, like Pinocchio, telling a lie. It’s just a more interesting way of writing it.
3. It can act as foreshadowing. If I describe a character’s actions as prodigal¸ my readers may well deduce that he’s about to commit some rash and rebellious acts before eventually repenting.
This is the point where I usually link to a challenge entry of my own that illustrates the week’s lesson. Unfortunately, I’ve spent the better part of an afternoon reading through old entries, and I didn’t find a single one; apparently it’s a literary device that I don’t use much (or at all). When I was writing as Addie Pleasance, I wrote one story called "Marmaduke and Mackerel", alluding to the old Marmaduke comic strip, but that particular strip wasn’t chosen in any way to help with plot or character—it was just chosen for the alliteration in the title. If I ever start to write again, I’ll be more conscious of using allusion to enhance my writing.
Homework (do one, some, or all of these):
1. Write a sentence or two that contains an allusion, preferably something that alludes to a familiar story from literature or culture. See if you can get the allusion to make your passage “show”, or to force your reader to experience an aha! moment.
2. Tell why you have chosen to use allusion in your writing, and (if possible) link to an example of it here.
3. Give another example of allusion from something you’ve read, and tell why it is effective there.
4. Make a comment or ask a question about what I have said about allusion here.
Please tell other FaithWriters about this forum!
Allusion is a tricky little device; you have to know your audience. If I write:
Dexter thought Hilda was a gorgeous creature; he could just imagine her standing at her balcony, pining for him.
…it’s all well and good if my reader recognizes the allusion to Romeo and Juliet, but if my reader doesn’t, she’ll just be left scratching her head—where did Hilda get a balcony?
But if your reader knows what you’re alluding to, using allusion is a great way to “show, not tell.” For example, I could write:
Abner was a big guy. He was gentle and simple, but if he got upset, he could be terrifying.
OR, using allusion, I could write:
Abner was the kind of guy who you just expected to have a dead mouse in his pocket, just because it felt soft.
If you haven’t read Of Mice and Men, you’ll have no idea what that means, but if you have read it, you’ll have an instant picture of Abner, and all that is implied by his comparison to Lenny in the novel.
If you know that your audience is likely to be Christians with a working knowledge of scripture, you can use biblical allusions, referring to a character as a good Samaritan or saying that a beleaguered character felt as if he’d spent three days in the belly of a whale.
An allusion can be just a few words in a sentence, or an entire piece can allude to another, almost paying homage to it by either satirizing it, or borrowing its style, its characters, or its plot. It can be very direct, mentioning the other word and its author directly. Or it can be quite subtle, as in the first few examples I’ve given here.
Why might you want to use allusion in your writing?
1. As I mentioned earlier, by using an allusion, you can show rather than tell.
2. It’s a way of helping your reader to make connections and to draw some thoughtful conclusions about your characters or their motivations. If I write, Jan said, “I love this tofu lasagna! It’s delicious!” She immediately felt her nose, to see if it was growing, my readers can deduce that Jan was, like Pinocchio, telling a lie. It’s just a more interesting way of writing it.
3. It can act as foreshadowing. If I describe a character’s actions as prodigal¸ my readers may well deduce that he’s about to commit some rash and rebellious acts before eventually repenting.
This is the point where I usually link to a challenge entry of my own that illustrates the week’s lesson. Unfortunately, I’ve spent the better part of an afternoon reading through old entries, and I didn’t find a single one; apparently it’s a literary device that I don’t use much (or at all). When I was writing as Addie Pleasance, I wrote one story called "Marmaduke and Mackerel", alluding to the old Marmaduke comic strip, but that particular strip wasn’t chosen in any way to help with plot or character—it was just chosen for the alliteration in the title. If I ever start to write again, I’ll be more conscious of using allusion to enhance my writing.
Homework (do one, some, or all of these):
1. Write a sentence or two that contains an allusion, preferably something that alludes to a familiar story from literature or culture. See if you can get the allusion to make your passage “show”, or to force your reader to experience an aha! moment.
2. Tell why you have chosen to use allusion in your writing, and (if possible) link to an example of it here.
3. Give another example of allusion from something you’ve read, and tell why it is effective there.
4. Make a comment or ask a question about what I have said about allusion here.
Please tell other FaithWriters about this forum!