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How Does An Author Use Allusions In Literature

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Literary allusions are used everywhere in literature. From fiction to non-fiction, from sci-fi to biographies, they are used. A literary allusion is a word or a phrase that refers to a person, place, or thing in history. Literary allusions are good for creating more of an atmosphere, deepening readers understanding, and helping the audience think more about the reading. There are multiple benefits to using allusions, and one of them is that they help to create more of an atmosphere for the reader while reading. If an author writes, “He felt guilty.” that isn’t much of an atmosphere, but if the author writes “He felt as guilty as Judas.” then that gives more depth and meaning to how guilty the character felt. Relating what is going on in the book to something well known and possible popular really helps the reader connect to the story more. Helping to deepen that understanding of the story is crucial when the author has an important message that they want to get across, and for that they must relate to the reader and use allusions to do that. …show more content…

Using allusion helps to add description so that the reader can get a clearer picture of what the author is trying to describe. This helps with feelings and items especially because if the author writes, “It was a great play.” then that doesn’t leave the same impression on a reader as “It was as great as a Shakespearian play.” would. When the author says that the play is good the reader registers that, but when you add Shakespeare in that automatically gives the reader a clearer picture and lets the reader know how great of a play that it is. Doing this can make the reader think more about how great it is or what play that it is

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