What is a literary allusion? How is allusion defined and how does it function? Lecturer Sam Schwartz answers these questions using examples from Herman Melville's Moby Dick and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
The short video is designed to help high school and college English students to not only identify allusions in literature but also to analyze their purposes and effects. The video is sponsored by the School of Writing, Literature, and Film at Oregon State University. For more discussions of literary topics and essay writing tips, please subscribe to the free SWLF YouTube Channel or visit https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf
Spanish subtitles are now available for this video. To access these subtitles, click on the settings icon in the video.
0:00 Definition of Allusion
1:37 Allusions Example #1
3:20 Allusion Example #2
4:25 Conclusion
Below are a few more videos in the series. Please drop us a comment letting us know what literary terms you would like us to explore in future videos!