Allusion essay title

The Bible is one of the most widely studied texts in all of history. People have read into its meaning for centuries upon centuries. Certain stories stand out more than others, such as the Good Samaritan or Adam and Eve’s fate in the Garden of Eden.

Here, we're giving you 11 allusion examples from poetry, literature, and everyday speech so that you can get a better sense of what allusions look like and how they're used. We also provide you with a short analysis of each allusion example. What does an allusion in poetry look like?

Indeed, the whale destroys the Pequod, as well as all the other whaling ships, killing everyone but the narrator. In Act 3, Scene 4 of this Shakespearean play, the title character of Hamlet describes a portrait of his late father while alluding to three Greek gods.

It could also refer to something that happens earlier in the text; this is often called an "internal allusion" (as opposed to a regular, or "external," allusion). The verb form of the noun "allusion" is "allude," so you could state that a writer "alludes to" or "makes an allusion to" something.