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GCSE English Literature · key term
A reference to another text, story, person or event that adds meaning.
Used by AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas
Paper 1, Paper 2
A reference to another story, belief or text, such as the serpent's association with temptation in the Garden of Eden.
A reference to another text, story, person or event that adds meaning to a passage.
A reference to another story, person or idea that brings additional associations into a text.
Link context directly to evidence: for example, explain how the allusions to Adam, Eve and Satan make the creature’s exclusion seem especially painful.
Present the reference to God giving up His Son as a possible Christian allusion, and explain how it develops the idea of sacrificial parental love.
Connect context to interpretation: explain how the Alice allusion makes love’s transformations seem both enticing and unsettling.
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A reference to another story, person or event, which brings its associations into the writing.
A reference to another story, person or event which adds meaning through the associations it brings.
A reference to another story, person or idea, such as Gratiano’s reference to Jason and the golden fleece.
A reference to another text, story or tradition. Lorenzo’s reference to manna draws on the biblical story of food supplied by God.
A reference or echo that connects a work to another text, person or event.
A reference to another text, person or event that brings associated meanings into a passage.
A reference to another text, belief, event or idea which adds meaning to a passage.
A reference to another text, story or belief. Utterson’s reference to Cain draws on the biblical story of Cain and Abel.
A reference to another text, belief, person or story that adds meaning to a passage.
A reference to another text, person or story that adds meaning, such as Utterson’s reference to the biblical Cain.
A reference to another text, person or story, such as the novella’s references to Satan and biblical events.
A reference to another text, figure or story that brings its associated meanings into a passage.
A reference to another text, belief, person or story, such as the biblical references to Cain and Satan.
A reference to another work, story or figure that brings its associations into a text.
An indirect reference to another text, person or event, which adds meaning through the connection.
A reference to another text, story or belief. Victor’s reference to the eaten apple recalls the biblical Fall.
A reference to another text, person, event or myth that adds meaning to a literary work.
A reference to another text, person or event that adds meaning through the connection.
A reference to another text, person or event that brings additional meaning to a passage.
A reference to another text, person or event that brings additional associations into a work.
A reference to another text, story or cultural idea. The connection with Prometheus links Victor’s scientific striving to both human benefit and suffering.
A reference to another text, person, event or belief which adds meaning to a literary work.
A reference to another text, person or event that adds meaning, such as the creature’s references to Milton’s Paradise Lost.
A reference to another literary work, myth, person or event that brings additional associations into a text.
A reference to another text, person or story that brings its associations into the work being studied.
A reference to another work, person or event that adds meaning to a passage.
A reference to another text, belief or story. Pip’s prayer beside Magwitch recalls a biblical story about humility and forgiveness.
A reference to another text, person or event that brings additional associations into a passage.
A reference to another story, figure or idea, such as Dickens’s comparison of Joe to Hercules.
A reference to another text, writer or cultural idea. Holmes's reference to Jean Paul Richter introduces a reflection on human greatness and humility.
A reference to another text, person or event that adds meaning. Jane’s reference to Roman emperors associates John Reed with tyranny.
A reference to another story, historical event or cultural idea, such as Jane’s comparison of Thornfield’s corridor to Bluebeard’s castle.
A reference to another text, person or story that adds meaning. Jane’s description of Rochester as a “sightless Samson” invokes the biblical figure’s strength, blindness and captivity.
A reference to another text, belief or story that adds meaning to a passage.
A reference to another text, belief, person or event that brings additional associations into a work.
A reference to another text, event or cultural idea. ‘All flesh is grass’ alludes to the Bible and recalls the fragility of human life.
An indirect reference to another text, story, person or event that adds meaning through the connection.
A reference to another text, story, person or belief that adds meaning to a work.
A reference to a person, event or another work that brings associated meanings into a text.
Paper 1, Paper 2
A reference to another work, story or idea that adds meaning to the writing.
Revise: Act 5The speech echoes the sorceress Medea's invocation in Ovid's Metamorphoses. This classical allusion complicates Prospero's authority: his language resembles that of a dangerous witch, rather than making his magic seem unquestionably good. His claims to have darkened the sun, raised winds and opened graves also emphasise how disturbing such power can be.
A reference to another story, belief or text, such as the biblical account of Adam's creation.
A reference to another story, belief or text; Beatrice’s imagery of earth recalls the biblical creation of Adam.
A reference to another story, person, event or work that adds meaning to a passage.
A reference to another story, person or event which brings additional associations into a text.
A reference to another story, person or event that adds meaning, such as Bassanio’s references to Jason and Midas.
Paper 1, Paper 2
A reference to another text, person or event that brings additional associations into a work.
Revise: VivThe allusion is revealing because Viv answers a question about herself with somebody else’s patriotic words. Literally, she demonstrates her knowledge of English poetry. More deeply, Pinnock invites us to question whether this knowledge gives her an adequate language for her own identity as a young Black woman with Jamaican family roots.
A reference to another work, person or event that adds meaning. Pip’s comparison with a student and his creature alludes to Frankenstein.
A reference to another text, story or belief that adds meaning; for example, Pip’s prayer beside Magwitch draws on a biblical parable.
A reference to another story, person or cultural tradition, such as Dickens’s comparison of Joe to Hercules.
An indirect reference to another story, person or cultural idea, such as the reference to the snake-haired Gorgons in the description of the Martians.
A reference to another text, person or event that adds meaning through its associations.
Component 1, Component 2
A reference to another text, story, person or event that adds meaning to a passage.
Revise: AmbitionApplied to Macbeth's development, the allusion offers a wider pattern: an apparently admirable figure falls through pride and wrongdoing. It connects with the upward leap and downward fall of “Vaulting ambition”. Shakespeare's warning is particularly directed at desire that refuses moral limits, rather than suggesting that every wish to achieve something is equally wicked.
An indirect reference to something outside the immediate text, such as Cupid, the classical god of love.
A reference to a story, person, event or other work that adds meaning to a passage.
A reference to another story, person or cultural idea that adds meaning to the immediate situation.
A reference to another story, person or event that adds meaning through its associations.
A reference to another story, person or event which brings additional associations into a text.
A reference to another story, person, event or work that brings additional associations into a text.
A reference to another story, person or cultural idea, such as Portia's reference to Diana, the classical goddess associated with chastity.
A reference to another text, person, event or cultural tradition.
A reference to another text, person or event that adds meaning. Jane’s comparison of John Reed to Roman emperors draws on her reading about tyrants.
A reference to another story, text or cultural idea, such as Jane’s comparison of Thornfield’s passage to Bluebeard’s castle.
A reference to another text, story or belief. Jane’s description of marriage as being ‘bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh’ recalls the biblical account of Eve and Adam.
A reference to another text, person or event that adds meaning to the writing.
A reference to another text, story or belief. Pip’s prayer beside Magwitch recalls the biblical account of two men praying in the Temple.
A reference to another story, person or cultural idea. Comparing Joe to Hercules invokes a hero famous for extraordinary strength.
A reference to another story, belief or text that adds meaning, such as Utterson’s reference to the biblical Cain.
A reference to another text, person or event that adds meaning through the connection.
A reference to another story, text or belief that adds meaning, such as Utterson’s reference to the biblical Cain.
A reference to another text, belief, person or event that adds meaning to a literary work.
A reference to another text, figure, belief or event that brings its associations into the writing.
A reference to another text, belief, person or story, such as the biblical references to Cain and Satan.
A reference to another text, person or event that brings additional associations into a work.
A reference to another story, belief or work. Eliot’s adjective “Lethean” refers to Lethe, the river of forgetfulness in Greek mythology.
A reference to another text, person, event or story that brings its associations into a work.
A reference to another text, person or story that brings its associations into the writing.
A reference to another text, person or event which adds meaning through the connection.
A reference to another text, story, person or event that adds meaning to the writing.
A reference to another text, person, event or myth that adds meaning to a literary work.
A reference to another text, person or event that adds meaning, such as the creature's comparisons with Adam and Satan in Paradise Lost.
A reference to another work, person or event that adds meaning to a passage.
A reference to another literary work, person or event that adds meaning to a text.
A reference to another text, person or story which adds meaning to the work being read.
A reference to another text, person or event that adds meaning, such as the creature’s references to Adam, Eve and Satan in Paradise Lost.
A reference to another text, person, event or myth which brings additional associations into a work.
A reference to another text, person or story that adds meaning, such as the creature’s references to Adam and Satan.
A reference to another text, belief or cultural idea, such as a poem’s echo of the Bible.
A reference to another work, person or event that brings its associations into a text.
An indirect reference to another text, story or event, which brings its associations into a work.
A reference to another text, event or belief that adds meaning to a work.
A reference to another text, historical event, person or cultural idea.
A reference to another text, story, person or event that brings its associations into a work.
A reference to another work, event, person or cultural tradition, such as the poem’s references to storm deities.
A reference to a person, event or another work that brings additional associations into a text.
A reference to another text, person or event which brings associated meanings into a passage.
A reference to another story, person or idea that adds meaning, such as Utterson’s reference to the biblical Cain.
A reference to another text, person or story that adds meaning, such as Utterson’s reference to the biblical Cain.
A reference to another text, person or idea. References to Satan and Hell draw on Christian beliefs to give Hyde’s behaviour moral and supernatural associations.
A reference to another text, person or event that brings additional associations into a passage.
A reference to another text, belief, person or event that adds associations to the writing.
A reference to another story, figure or idea, such as the biblical figures Cain and Satan.
A reference to another text, person or event. Jane’s reference to Roman emperors connects John Reed’s bullying with tyranny.
A reference to another story, person or work, which brings associated meanings into a text.
A reference to another text, story or cultural figure that adds meaning to the passage in which it appears.
An indirect reference to another text, event or belief, such as Brocklehurst’s use of biblical language.
A reference to another text, story or belief, such as a biblical account, which adds meaning to a passage.
A reference or suggestion that recalls another text, belief, event or cultural tradition.
A reference that brings another text, belief or event into the meaning of a work.
An indirect reference to another text, event, person or historical situation.
A brief reference to another text, person or event that brings additional associations into a work.
A reference to another text, event or cultural idea that brings additional associations into a work.
A reference to another text, person or event that brings additional meanings into a work. Kunial’s reference to Herbert connects personal grief with an earlier poem about prayer.
A reference to another story, person or idea that brings additional associations into a text.
A reference to another story, person or event that adds meaning, such as Bassanio’s reference to King Midas.
A reference to another story, person or event that adds meaning to a text.
A reference to another story, person or event that adds meaning to a passage.
A reference to another story, person or text that adds meaning through the connection.
A reference to another story, person, event or work. The reference to Bluebeard brings associations of violence into the blackberry picking.
An indirect reference to another text, event or idea, such as the biblical reference to human mortality in Duffy’s poem.
An indirect reference to another text, person or event that adds meaning through the connection. Eliot’s image of Godfrey’s mind as a home for demons echoes a biblical passage.
An indirect reference to another text, religious story or cultural idea that adds meaning to a passage.
An indirect reference to another story, belief or work. Eliot’s reference to Lethe evokes the river of forgetfulness in classical mythology.
A reference to another text, belief, person or event that adds meaning to a passage.
A reference to another text, historical event, belief or myth that adds meaning to a passage.
A reference to another text, person or event. The curate’s biblical allusions frame the invasion as divine judgement.
An indirect reference to another text, person or event. A biblical allusion draws meaning from a story or expression in the Bible.
A reference to another text, person or event that adds meaning through the connection.
A reference to another text, person or event that brings its associations into the writing, such as Jane’s comparison of John Reed to Roman emperors.
A reference to another text, person or story that brings its associations into the writing.
A reference to another text, person or story that brings its associations into a literary work.
A reference to another text, belief, person or event that adds meaning to a literary work.
A reference to another text, belief, person or event; Brocklehurst’s references to Scripture give his demands an appearance of religious authority.
A reference to another text, story, person or event that brings associated meanings into a work.
A reference to another text, story, person or cultural idea that adds meaning to a passage.
A reference to another text, belief or cultural idea that adds meaning to a literary moment.
A reference to another text, person or event that brings additional meaning to a passage.
A reference to another text, person, belief or story, such as the biblical figures Cain and Satan.
