Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1841 essay “Self-Reliance” is a manifesto of individuality. Emerson calls on his readers to look within themselves for guidance, intuition, and insight, rather than to search for answers in the ideas and agendas of others. Emerson views individuality as the source of a strong society, with each person offering forth her unique genius. To prove his point, Emerson alludes to a number of notable historical figures, illustrating how originality and self-reliance have cultivated great things.

Skills: analysis, drawing inferences from text, close reading, identifying the relationship between words

About This Document

The Owl Eyes Allusions activity gives students an opportunity to practice identifying and analyzing allusions. Allusions broaden the scope of a text and imbue passages of the text with deeper meaning by subtly drawing on literature, history, science, geography, philosophy, mythology, or other cultural sources. The main components of this activity include the following:

• A contextualized paragraph of the text
• A handout defining “allusion” with examples from classic works
• A list of tips for spotting allusions
• A step-by-step guide to activity procedure
• An example answer

In completing this activity, students will be able to identify, analyze, and interpret allusions, thereby accessing deeper meanings within the text.