ABSTRACT
An ‘allusion’ occurs when one text makes an implicit or explicit reference to another text. In an explicit verbal allusion an actual quotation is made and signalled with quotation marks. In an implicit verbal allusion, no signal is given and the original wording is sometimes changed to suit the new context. Thus the opening of Wordsworth’s The Prelude (1805) alludes to the end of Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667) without actually quoting from it:
The earth is all before me: with a heart Joyous, nor scared at its own liberty, I look about, and should the guide I choose Be nothing better than a wandering cloud, I cannot miss my way.
