I'm not sure if you have read Steinbeck's Of
Mice and Men, but a clear allusion is the title of his novel which alludes to
a poem by Robert Burns called "To a Mouse." This is a pretty simple allusion to describe
if you have read Of Mice and
Men.
The Great Gatsby is
full of historical allusions. One example is when Nick meets Gatsby's shady business
"partner" Wolfsheim and discovers that Wolfsheim helped throw the 1919 World Series--a
blight in American baseball history that really
happened.
If you can use songs, you will find numerous
examples of allusions in them. For example, a song by James Blunt which appears on his
first album contains an allusion to the literary character Dorian Gray. The song is
entitled "Tears and Rain," and in it Blunt expresses his wish to hide his "true shape,
like Dorian Gray" (line 9) so that he can forget his poor choices in life. In
literature, Dorian Gray is the title character from Oscar Wilde's Picture of
Dorian Gray and makes a deal with the devil to be able to live his life
however he wants without reaping the physical or spiritual consequences associated with
a life of debauchery. Instead of his aging, a portrait of him in the attic begins to
show all of the horrible things Dorian has done.
Many
modern rap songs also contain allusions or references; so just choose something that you
are familiar with and see if you can find the allusions. I also posted some links below
that might help you.
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