When poets refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Literary and Philosophical References
- The Bible, Genesis 1: the whole "forbidden fruit" plot in "Goblin Market" is often read as an allusion to Adam and Eve's eating of the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Eden in Genesis, the first book of the Judeo-Christian scriptures.
- Alexander Pope, "The Rape of the Lock ": some critics and readers think that the scene in which Laura trades a lock of her hair for the goblin fruit is a shout-out to Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" (1712-14) in which a guy snips a lock of hair from the head of his would-be girlfriend without her permission.