Oxford Dictionary of Reference and Allusion
Oxford Dictionary of Reference and Allusion

Author: Andrew Delahunty

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2012-09-13

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 0199567468

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Allusions are a marvelous literary shorthand. A miser is a Scrooge, a strong man a Samson, a beautiful woman a modern-day Helen of Troy. From classical mythology to modern movies and TV shows, this revised and updated third edition explains the meanings of more than 2,000 allusions in use in modern English, from Abaddon to Zorro, Tartarus to Tarzan, and Rambo to Rubens. Based on an extensive reading program that has identified the most commonly used allusions, this fascinating volume includes numerous quotations to illustrate usage, drawn from sources ranging from Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens to Bridget Jones's Diary. In addition, the dictionary includes a useful thematic index, so that readers not only can look up Medea to find out how her name is used as an allusion, but also can look up the theme of "Revenge" and find, alongside Medea, entries for other figures used to allude to revenge, such as The Furies or The Count of Monte Cristo. Hailed by Library Journal as "wonderfully conceived and extraordinarily useful," this superb reference--now available in paperback--will appeal to anyone who enjoys language in all its variety. It is especially useful for students and writers.

Adonis to Zorro
Adonis to Zorro

Author: Andrew Delahunty

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2010-09-23

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 019956745X

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An absorbing reference work that explains the meanings of references and allusions in modern English, from Adonis to Zorro. It is fascinating to browse, and is based upon an extensive reading program that has identified the most commonly-used allusions.

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

Author: Elizabeth Knowles

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2006-10-12

Total Pages: 816

ISBN-13: 0191578568

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This Dictionary is part of the Oxford Reference Collection: using sustainable print-on-demand technology to make the acclaimed backlist of the Oxford Reference programme perennially available in hardback format. What is a ham-and-egger? What are Anglo-Saxon attitudes? Who or what is liable to jump the shark? Who first tried to nail jelly to the wall? The answers to these and many more questions are in this fascinating book. Here in one volume you can track down the stories behind the names and sayings you meet, whether in classic literature or today's news. Drawing on Oxford's unrivalled bank of reference and language online resources, this dictionary covers classical and other mythologies, history, religion, folk customs, superstitions, science and technology, philosophy, and popular culture. Extensive cross referencing makes it easy to trace specific information, while every page points to further paths to explore. A fascinating slice of cultural history, and a browser's delight from start to finish. What is the fog of war? Who first wanted to spend more time with one's family? When was the Dreamtime? How long since the first cry of Women and children first? Where might you find dark matter? Would you want the Midas touch? Should you worry about grey goo?

Oxford Dictionary of Nicknames
Oxford Dictionary of Nicknames

Author: Andrew Delahunty

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2006-01

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 9780198609483

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A reference for the general reader contains concise explanations of the origins of over 1,800 nicknames from contemporary and historical culture referring to historical figures, politicians, athletes, entertainers, places, events, and organizations.

The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions
The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions

Author: Andrew Delahunty

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13:

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Allusions form a colourful extension to the English Language, drawing on our collective knowledge of literature, mythology, and the Bible to give us a literary shorthand for describing people, places, and events. So a miser is a Scrooge, a strong man is a Samson or a Hercules, a beautifulwoman is a Venus or a modern-day Helen of Troy-we can suffer like Sisyphus, fail like Canute, or linger like the smile of the Cheshire Cat. This completely new reference work explains the meanings of the allusions in use in modern English, from Abaddon to Zorro, Tartarus to Tarzan, and Rubens to Rambo. The fascinating book is based on an extensive reading programme that has identified the most commonly-used allusions, and quotations areincluded at most entries to illustrate usage, from a range of authors and sources, from Thomas Hardy to Ben Elton, Charles Dickens to 'Bridget Jones's Diary'.

A Dictionary of Literary Devices
A Dictionary of Literary Devices

Author: Bernard Marie Dupriez

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 1991-01-01

Total Pages: 572

ISBN-13: 9780802068033

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Comprising some 4000 terms, defined and illustrated, "Gradus" calls upon the resources of linguistics, poetics, semiotics, socio-criticism, rhetoric, pragmatics, combining them in ways which enable readers quickly to comprehend the codes and conventions which together make up 'literarity.'

Arts of Allusion
Arts of Allusion

Author: Margaret S. Graves

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-07-31

Total Pages: 572

ISBN-13: 0190695935

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The art of the object reached unparalleled heights in the medieval Islamic world, yet the intellectual dimensions of ceramics, metalwares, and other plastic arts in this milieu have not always been acknowledged. Arts of Allusion reveals the object as a crucial site where pre-modern craftsmen of the eastern Mediterranean and Persianate realms engaged in fertile dialogue with poetry, literature, painting, and, perhaps most strikingly, architecture. Lanterns fashioned after miniature shrines, incense burners in the form of domed monuments, earthenware jars articulated with arches and windows, inkwells that allude to tents: through close studies of objects from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries, this book reveals that allusions to architecture abound across media in the portable arts of the medieval Islamic world. Arts of Allusion draws upon a broad range of material evidence as well as medieval texts to locate its subjects in a cultural landscape where the material, visual, and verbal realms were intertwined. Moving far beyond the initial identification of architectural types with their miniature counterparts in the plastic arts, Margaret Graves develops a series of new frameworks for exploring the intelligent art of the allusive object. These address materiality, representation, and perception, and examine contemporary literary and poetic paradigms of metaphor, description, and indirect reference as tools for approaching the plastic arts. Arguing for the role of the intellect in the applied arts and for the communicative potential of ornament, Arts of Allusion asserts the reinstatement of craftsmanship into Islamic intellectual history.

A Dictionary of Shakespeare
A Dictionary of Shakespeare

Author: Stanley Wells

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 0192806386

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Compiled by the general editor of The Oxford Shakespeare, and one of the best-known authorities on the playwright's works, this dictionary offers up-to-date information on all aspects of Shakespeare, both in his own time and in later ages. The wide-ranging entries cover Shakespeare's plays, as well as everything from famous actors, writers, and directors connected with Shakespeare, to theatres, historical figures and places of particular interest relating to his life and work. The dictionary also includes box features of passages on Shakespeare by other famous authors, from Dr Johnson and Jane Austin to Bernard Levin and Virginia Woolf. Ideal reference for the student, actor, or director, and fascinating browsing for the general reader interested in Shakespeare's life and work.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

Author: John Simpson

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 9780192800022

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Lists recorded usages and meaning for hundreds of proverbs arranged by key word, from "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" to "Youth must be served."

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature
The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature

Author: Margaret Drabble

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 676

ISBN-13:

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Based on the bestselling Oxford Companion to English Literature, this is an indispensable, compact guide to all aspects of English literature. For this revised edition, existing entries have been fully updated and 60 new entries have been added on contemporary writers, such as Peter Acroyd,Martin Amis, Toni Morrison, and Jeanette Winterson. Detailed new appendices include a chronology of English literature, and a listing of major literary prize-winners.