When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Literature, Philosophy, and Mythology
- Baedeker’s Handbook to Northern Italy (first in 1.37, it continues to play an important role throughout the novel)
- John Ruskin (2.23)
- Niccolò Machiavelli (2.23)
- A.E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad (2.45, 12.4)
- Greek myth: Phaeton (6.1)
- Greek myth: Greek myth: Persephone (6.1)
- Angelo Poliziano, “Ben Venga Maggio” (6.19; misattributed by Mr. Emerson to Lorenzo di Medici, the poet’s patron)
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Adonais” (8.1; quoted but not attributed – “Life like a dome of many-coloured glass”)
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Come Down, O Maid,” from The Princess (9.16)
- Lord Byron (12.4)
- Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh (12.4)
- Edward Gibbon (12.4)
- Arthur Schopenhauer (12.4)
- Friedrich Nietzsche (12.4)
- Henry David Thoreau (12.5)
- Sir Walter Scott, “Look Thou Not On Beauty’s Charming” from The Bride of Lammermoor (18.37)
- Samuel Butler, Further Extracts from the Notebooks of Samuel Butler (19.41 – the line “Life is like a public performance on the violin…” that Mr. Emerson quotes)
Art References
- Giotto, frescos (2.22; continues through Ch.2)
- Giotto, “Ascension of St. John” (2.33, 4.5)
- Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel (2.39)
- Della Robbia (2.40, 4.5)
- Sandro Botticelli, “Birth of Venus” (4.5)
- Giorgione, “Tempèsta,” “Idolino” (4.5)
- Fra Angelico, “Coronation” (4.5)
- Guido Reni (4.5)
- Alessio Baldovinetti (5.17; 6.9; 6.20)
- Leonardo da Vinci (8.22; often referenced by Cecil)
- Phidias, Frieze at the Phidias, Frieze at the Parthenon (18.8)
Musical References
- Ludwig von Beethoven (3.4)
- Robert Schumann (11.10)
- Richard Wagner, Götterdämmerung (12.27)
- Christoph Gluck, Armide (15.21)
- Richard Wagner, Parsifal (15.21)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18.10)