{"id":154,"date":"2020-03-24T04:47:05","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T04:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/accintrotocreativewriting\/chapter\/lesson-15-allusions-direct-addresses-symbols-in-poetry\/"},"modified":"2022-08-19T16:13:12","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T16:13:12","slug":"lesson-15-allusions-direct-addresses-symbols-in-poetry","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/accintrotocreativewriting\/chapter\/lesson-15-allusions-direct-addresses-symbols-in-poetry\/","title":{"raw":"Lesson 15: Allusions, Direct Addresses, and Symbols in Poetry","rendered":"Lesson 15: Allusions, Direct Addresses, and Symbols in Poetry"},"content":{"raw":"Definitions<\/strong>\n\nAllusions in Poetry<\/strong>\n\nAn allusion is a reference to something or someone in history. The allusion is intentionally placed in a piece of writing by the writer, and the writer assumes that the readers will know and understand the allusion.\n\nDifferent types of allusions exist: Biblical, historical, literary allusions\u2013to name a few. For example, watch this video where T. S. Eliot's poem \"The Journey of the Magi\" is read:\n\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KBg_aYvp5GU\n\nNotice the biblical reference to the magi (wise men) who followed the star to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus.\n\nDirect Address in Poetry<\/strong>\n\nA direct address may be a person, who is referenced in the poem. The person can be an actual person's name or it can be a common noun in reference to a specific type of person. For example, Walt Whitman referenced strangers and readers in these two excerpts from Leaves of Grass<\/em>:\n

Stranger\n<\/strong>Author<\/strong>: Walt Whitman<\/p>\n

Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me, why\nshould you not speak to me?\nAnd why should I not speak to you?<\/p>\n

Thou Reader\n<\/strong>Author<\/strong>: Walt Whitman<\/p>\n

Thou reader throbbest life and pride and love the same as I,\nTherefore for thee the following chants.<\/p>\nA direct address in poems can also be to an inanimate object. For example, John Donne directly addresses death in his poem \"Holy Sonnet 10\" also known as \"Death Be Not Proud\":\n

Holy Sonnet 10\n<\/strong>Author<\/strong>: John Donne<\/p>\n

Death be not proud, though some have call\u00e8d thee\nMighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,\nFor, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,\nDie not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.\nFrom rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,\nMuch pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,\nAnd soonest our best men with thee doe goe,\nRest of their bones, and soules deliverie.\nThou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,\nAnd dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,\nAnd poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,\nAnd better than thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;\nOne short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,\nAnd death shall be no more, death, thou shalt die.<\/p>\nSymbols in Poetry<\/strong>\n\nA symbol in poems represents something else\u2013a deeper meaning. Poems can have a literal meaning, but they can also have a deeper symbolic meaning. For example, in Robert Frost's well-known poem \"A Road Not Taken\" on a literal level it is about a walk in the woods. However, on a symbolic level it's about making a life decision and how one decision leads a person down one life path and not the other.\n

The Road Not Taken\n<\/strong>Author<\/strong>: Robert Frost\n\u00a91916<\/p>\n

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,\nAnd sorry I could not travel both\nAnd be one traveler, long I stood\nAnd looked down one as far as I could\nTo where it bent in the undergrowth;<\/p>\n

Then took the other, as just as fair,\nAnd having perhaps the better claim,\nBecause it was grassy and wanted wear;\nThough as for that the passing there\nHad worn them really about the same,<\/p>\n

And both that morning equally lay\nIn leaves no step had trodden black.\nOh, I kept the first for another day!\nYet knowing how way leads on to way,\nI doubted if I should ever come back.<\/p>\n

I shall be telling this with a sigh\nSomewhere ages and ages hence:\nTwo roads diverged in a wood, and I\u2014\nI took the one less travelled by,\nAnd that has made all the difference.<\/p>\n ","rendered":"

Definitions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allusions in Poetry<\/strong><\/p>\n

An allusion is a reference to something or someone in history. The allusion is intentionally placed in a piece of writing by the writer, and the writer assumes that the readers will know and understand the allusion.<\/p>\n

Different types of allusions exist: Biblical, historical, literary allusions\u2013to name a few. For example, watch this video where T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Journey of the Magi” is read:<\/p>\n