In Melville's 1851 Moby-Dick, the narrator begins, "Call me Ishmael." What does the biblical name contribute?

In Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), the creature says, "I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel." What does the paired allusion mean?

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, first printed in 1603, Hamlet says, "Hyperion to a satyr." What does the classical allusion sharpen?

In Hamlet, Gertrude is "Like Niobe, all tears" before remarrying quickly. What does the allusion imply?

In Hamlet, the Ghost says, "The serpent that did sting thy father's life / Now wears his crown." What does the Edenic allusion add?

In Eliot's The Waste Land (1922), a speaker says, "I Tiresias, though blind." What does Tiresias add?

In The Waste Land (1922), Eliot writes, "To Carthage then I came." What does the allusion to Augustine's Confessions bring in?

In The Waste Land (1922), the poem closes with the repeated word "Shantih shantih shantih." What does the Sanskrit allusion suggest?

In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), Nick imagines secrets "Midas and Morgan and Maecenas knew." What does the cluster suggest?

In Patrick Henry's 1775 speech, "betrayed with a kiss" warns against British conciliation. What does the biblical allusion do?

In King's 1963 "I Have a Dream," "justice rolls down like waters" echoes Amos. What does the biblical allusion add?

In Wheatley's 1773 poem, "black as Cain" addresses Christians who scorn Black people. What does the allusion argue?

In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850), the prison-door rose may have sprung under "Ann Hutchinson." What effect does this allusion create?

In King Lear (1605 or 1606), Gloucester says, "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods." What tone does the allusion create?

In Macbeth (1606), Macbeth asks, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?" What effect does the allusion have?

In Yeats's "Leda and the Swan" (1924), the assault "engenders" Troy's ruin. What effect does the mythic allusion have?

In Eliot's "Prufrock" (1915), the speaker says, "No! I am not Prince Hamlet." How does the allusion shape tone?

In Tennyson's "Ulysses" (1842), the speaker says, "I cannot rest from travel." How does the allusion shape theme?

In Milton's Paradise Lost (1667), Satan declares, "Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n." What effect does the biblical setting give the line?

In Keats's "Chapman's Homer" (1816), he feels like "stout Cortez" staring at the Pacific. What does the allusion do?

A text describes a long-absent husband returning in disguise to a house crowded with suitors. Which pattern is being invoked?

A poem shows a singer whose music moves trees and stones, then losing a beloved by looking back too soon. Which pattern is being invoked?

A drama presents a ruler who tries to escape a prophecy but fulfills it through the escape itself. Which pattern is being invoked?

A political essay calls a reform a "Trojan horse" inside the constitution. Which source pattern does the phrase invoke?

An essay describes a reformer chained for bringing forbidden knowledge to ordinary people. Which classical pattern is being invoked?

A memoir describes a tempting promise of knowledge that destroys innocence and begins exile. Which biblical pattern is being invoked?

A student writes, "Her warning about the data breach made her a Cassandra." Which revision keeps the allusion and clarifies it?

A review says, "The startup's founder played Icarus with investor money." Which revision makes the allusion legible without dropping it?

A speech says, "We must not make a Procrustean bed for every school." Which revision best clarifies the allusion?

A columnist writes, "The committee opened a Pandora's box." Which revision preserves and explains the allusion?