September 25, 2001
Literary allegory and literary allusion are two techniques that authors, poets, and essayists use in order to enhance a point to a reader. In allegory, abstract qualities are seen and personified into characters. An actual character becomes the quality discussed. In a literary allusion, a reference is made to another work, usually well known. Allusions also are made to famous persons, places, or events. Several pieces of literature contain allegory and allusion, and these devices are found in poetry, essay, and short story. Allegory is seen in several pieces such as Sylvia Plath’s Daddy, Jessica Mitford’s American Way of Death, and finally, Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. Matthew Arnold uses literary allusion in his poem Dover Beach. Literary allusion is also found in Sir Walter Ralegh’s The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd, and finally Robert Frost’s The Silken Tent.
Expression
Allegory is an expression of a truth by means of a
particular symbolic meaning. The symbolic meaning can be either a character
taking on the role of a personal quality or trait, or it can be clues that lead
to a deeper meaning. Sylvia Plath, in her poem Daddy has several views
of the narrator’s father. The poem is an allegory, using descriptions of her
father to relay a perception of a vampire or devil. Although Plath’s view of
her father changes from a god-like figure, describing him as “marble-heavy, a
bag full of God” (1028), to a down right vampire saying, “In the picture I have
of you, a cleft in your chin instead of your foot but no less a devil for that,
no not any less the black man who bit my pretty heart in two” (1029), the
allegory in this piece lies in the twisted views that Plath has in her mind.
Knowing that her husband grossly resembles her father, she marries him because
she is attracted to death. In the latter part of the poem, the father
becomes the devil, and Plath attempts to join him in death via marriage to
this other “devil-like” man. This is the allegory: Plath trying to achieve
something, death, by virtually becoming her father. She fails in this attempt
and this results in her moving on with her life.
In Jessica Mitford’s essay, The American Way of Death, allegory is used because Mitford makes death a business. The essay speaks of death and the period after where a funeral and mourning take place. The entire process is simply a moneymaker and the largest emphasis is on who can have the most expensive funeral. Mitford comes up with a theory called the “Four Articles of Faith”. The first is the “American Tradition,” where Mitford writes, “these were the hallmarks of the traditional funeral until the end of the nineteenth century” (934). The second is the public demand where she writes, “the cost of a funeral almost always varies, not ‘according to individual taste’ but according to what the traffic will bear” (934). If many people will attend, a more elaborate funeral will be held. The third is a psychiatric theory where Mitford writes, “social relationships are stressed and an emotional catharsis or release is provided through ceremony” (935). The last is a euphemistic jargon that the funeral director takes on by becoming the “coach” of the coffin. The American Way of Death is an allegory, using all the symbols of death, (coffins, mourning, morticians) and uses sarcastic tactics to reveal that death becomes something else: a business. Death actually takes on the traits of a job, rather than a natural human phenomenon. This idea makes death just another business, much like that of the car industry.
Frost
Allegory is also used in Robert Frost’s poem, Stopping
by Woods on a Snowy Evening. The poem talks of the serenity of a dark,
lonely, bleak winter. In line 12, the tone of the poem shifts with the simple
words, “downy flake.” These words provide the allegory of the poem and change
the mood from somber to relief. The relief of the narrator comes symbolically
through the “sweep of easy wind and downy flake” (1275).
Allusion is a direct reference to literature of another work. Matthew Arnold, in his poem Dover Beach, makes an allusion to Sophocles and the Aegean Sea. This dramatic monologue establishes a sense of tranquility and the narrator is clearly addressing his beloved. The second stanza of the poem makes an allusion to Sophocles, a man who represents human misery, and refers this back to how the speaker is experiencing an eternal saddens. Arnold writes, “Sophocles long ago heard it on the Aegean, and it brought into his mind the turbid ebb and flow of his human misery” (1006). From a reader’s perspective, the allusion to Sophocles’ eternal misery clearly shows how the narrator shares this similar heartache.
Nymph
Sir Walter Ralegh uses allusion to emphasize his narrator’s
feelings. According to Ralegh’s poem, The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,
(which is a direct response to Christopher Marlow’s The Passionate Shepherd
to His Love) the entire world of Marlow’s Shepherd is illusory. However,
Ralegh’s poem demonstrates an allusion with the reference to Philomel, a
Nightingale. Philomel, the woman raped by her brother-in-law and who was ripped
of her tongue, became “dumb” so she could no longer speak and accuse the man of
her ailment. The gods gave Philomel a voice and made her a Nightingale. This
allusion is made in Ralegh’s poem because it shows the triumph even Philomel
could make, and Ralegh challenges the idea of “carefree love” and how one can
triumph over such an idea. When Ralegh writes, “And Philomel becometh dumb; the
rest complains of cares to come” (996), the reader, if aware of Philomel’s
story, can see that despite the complaints, love will overcome anything.
Robert Frost’s poem The Silken Tent once again uses allusion. Here, the talk of Cedar poles lead to the allusion of the Cedars trees of Lebanon. The Lebanese Cedar tree is the first of the cedar wood to ever grow, and today they are the hardest to find. The Cedars of Lebanon are unique trees, therefore the reference, or allusion, to them makes the reader realize the importance of the unique woman the author is describing. The cedar tree, although common, is identified because of the wood, however the Lebanese cedar differs from the others in the way it produces its cones and needles. This woman who the narrator speaks of is clearly as independent and unique as a cedar. Frost writes, “signifies the sureness of the soul” (1009). Here, not only is the leaning cedar sure of what awaits it, but the woman as well does.
Conclusion
Literary allegory and literary allusion both allow a reader
to see a different way of approaching a topic. Whether an author is referring
to a famous literary work or person, or is making a personal trait into an
actual event, allegory and allusion make any type of writing more advanced and
interesting. Authors such as Sylvia Plath, Jessica Mitford, and Robert Frost
have all used allegory in their writings of poetry and essay, while Matthew
Arnold, Sir Walter Ralegh, and again, Robert Frost use allusion. These authors,
all from different eras, have chosen to use the strategy of allegory and
allusion in their writing in order to enhance it. The use of allegory and
allusion is unique yet completes a piece of writing. These authors clearly show
that in their various works.
Copyright 2001