Posted
on July 15, 2015
Myths
and legends and folklore are often seen as a subject for study –
they might appear in textbooks, tests, and college coursework – but
Thomas Bulfinch collect these sorts of stories, “not as a study,
but as a relaxation from study.”
Born
in Massachusetts on this date in 1796, back when the United States
was a young nation, Bulfinch wanted to create books that would help
men and women to understand allusions made to myths by public
speakers, poets, and other writers.
What
is an allusion?
An
allusion is either an indirect reference or a passing reference to
something or someone, in an attempt to call to the hearer's (or
reader's) mind complex ideas, images, or emotions.
A
common sort of allusion is to say something like, “Tom's a total
Einstein.” In this case, the speaker is referencing a well know
real person, Albert Einstein. In alluding to Einstein in his
description of Tom, the speaker tells us that Tom is really, really
smart. We probably also get the idea that Tom is a genius, and the
sort of genius who is brilliant at math and science, probably, rather
than music or art.
Literary
allusions often refer to the Bible or Shakespeare. A line in one of
my favorite poems, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost,
alludes to a Bible story:
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.
The use of the place name
“Eden” suggests that Frost is talking about perfection, purity,
and idealism changing into something more practical and slightly
soiled by mistakes and flaws.
Some
allusions – both in everyday speech and in literature – refer to
myths other than Bible stories. The Greek myths are perhaps the most
famous. Here are a couple of examples:
[Everyday speech]:
Opening the door to the frat house was like...well, you know,
Pandora's box!
[Literature, from the
play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare:]
Mercutio: Take Cupid's
wings and fly higher than the average man.Romeo: His arrow has pierced me too deeply, so I can't fly high with his cheerful feathers.
Thomas
Bullfinch wanted to make sure that men and women understood allusions
to the Midas Touch, to Arcady, to the Knights of the Round Table, and
so forth, so he made collections of stories in the mid-1800s:
Greek and Roman and Norse
myths
Legends of King Arthur
Legends of Charlemagne
Since
Bulfinch's collections of myths were especially designed to inform
“genteel Americans” about everything they needed to know to
quickly understand literary allusions, he made sure that the versions
he used were correct. However, he removed what he considered
unnecessary sex and violence.
- To learn more about Greek myths, check out Mr. Donn's collection of stories.
- To read the King Arthur legends, click through to “Sacred Texts.”
- Some of Bulfinch's collections are free!
 |
| Still in print, after all these years! |
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