Allusion Research Jigsaw
An allusion is a reference, explicit or implicit, to previous literature or history. Using allusions, authors can enrich a passage by inviting readers to make associates that can deepen or broaden meaning. Readers unaware of allusions will miss these meanings and therefore the intended result.
Your team will be given one of these groups of allusions, and your responsibility will be to learn them well. You can use any credible source for your research but remember that Wikipedia is updateable by anyone.
Next, your team will be responsible for creating a teaching document that includes, (in your own words) an explanation of the allusion with an MLA or APA citation for the source. If you already know the allusion or story by heart, you still need to find a source to back up your knowledge. This can be the actual book. The following source will help you out with citations. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
The stories, legends, and histories you explain need not be long; honestly, an analytical paragraph to explain each allusion will do. The purpose here is to give the whole class a working knowledge of allusions. How you teach these 10-13 allusions is up to you, but keep in mind that you will have 10-12 minutes and you don’t want us to develop writers’ cramps or be bored out of our minds. PowerPoint presentations, handouts, visual performances, or the like will all be fine.
Options:
Biblical Team 1
Creation
Adam and Eve
Cain and Abel
David and Goliath
Moses
Abraham and Isaac
Tower of Babel
Jonah and the whale
Samson and Delilah
Solomon
Job
Joseph and the Coat
Armageddon
Biblical Team 2
Daniel in the Lion’s Den
Elijah
Jezebel
Sodom and Gomorrah
Birth of Jesus
Parable of the Prodigal Son
Lazarus
John the Baptist
Last Supper
Judas
Crucifixion and Resurrection
Doubting Thomas
Lilith
Biblical Team 3
Absalom
Alpha and Omega
David and Bathsheba
Eye of the Needle
Good Samaritan
Handwriting on the Wall
King Ahab and Jezebel
Manna
Philistine
Scapegoat Sepulcher
Twelve Tribes of Israel
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Greek Mythology 1
Prometheus and Io
Narcissus
The Golden Fleece
Orpheus and Eurydice
Daedalus and Icarus
Cupid and Psyche
Pygmailion and Galatea
Daphne and Apollo
Perseus
Theseus
Greek Mythology 2
Hercules
Oedipus
Antigone
The Trojan War
Achilles and Hector
Helen and Paris
Midas
Bacchus
Agamemnon
Leda and the Swan
Greek Mythology 3
Pandora
Adonis
Aurora
Chimera
Gorgon
Letargy
Mentor
Muse
Olympian
Plutocracy
Vulcanize
Arthurian Team
Uther and Igrain and the story of Arthur’s birth
Arthur and Guinevere, and Lancelot
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Merlin
Morgan le Fay
Nimue, alias Vivienne, Lady of the lake
Perceval
Mordred
Avalon and Camelot
Excalibur, the sword in the stone, the Holy Grail
Fairy Tale Team (do not recite Disney knowledge)
The Ugly Duckling
Snow White
Rumpelstiltskin
The Princess and the Pea
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Little Red Riding Hood
Hansel and Gretel
The Frog Prince
The Fisherman and his Wife
Cinderella
Bluebeard
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Aladdin
Literature Team
Bartelby
Don Juan
Don Quixote
Pangloss
Jekyll and Hyde
Lilliputian
Pickwick
Pollyanna
Quixotic
Uncle Tom
History Team
Attila
Berserk
Casanova
Chauvinist
Hackney
Machiavellian
Nostradamus
Sardonic
Shanghai
Stonewall
Utopia