Adam Bede Allusions & Cultural References

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.

Literary and Philosophical References

  • Letters of Saint Paul (3.4)
  • Book of Genesis (4.71)
  • Book of Psalms (5.33)
  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, Lyrical Ballads (5.59)
  • Sophocles and Theocritus (5.64)
  • Gospel Tale of Martha and Mary (6.8)
  • Moses and Exodus (8.22)
  • John Gay, The Beggar's Opera (12.3)
  • John Moore, Zeluco (12.25, 12.50)
  • Andrew Foulis (publisher), Aeschylus (16.28)
  • Horace, Odes (quoted in 16.33)
  • Aeschylus, Prometheus (16.39)
  • French literature generally (17.14)
  • Book of Genesis (18.9)
  • Poor Richard's Almanac (19.8)
  • John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress and other works (19.8)
  • Bailey's Dictionary (19.8)
  • Valentine and Orson, possibly the Henry Watson version (19.8)
  • History of Babylon (19.8)
  • Genesis story of Adam and Eve (21.26)
  • Aeschylus (22.28)
  • Aesop's Fables (33.4)
  • The Life of Madame Guyon (50.24)
  • The Bible and Apocrypha (51.26)
  • John Henry Newman, Tracts for the Times (52.56)
  • Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus (52.56)

Historical References

  • John Wesley, Methodism, and Methodist Preaching (2.39-40, 3.12, 8.9-19)
  • Ludwig van Beethoven (3.12)
  • Saint Catherine (5.48)
  • Antinomianism and Evangelicism (5.59)
  • Epicureanism (5.63)
  • Prince of Wales (6.42)
  • Socrates (9.13)
  • Arthur Young (16.33)
  • William Pitt (16.50)
  • Dutch painting generally (17.6)
  • The Reformation and the Dissenters (17.9)
  • Arminians, Calvinists, and Wesleyans (17.13)
  • Lord Nelson and the French (18.81-82)
  • Houses of York and Lancaster (20.22)
  • Queen Elizabeth, General Monk, and Julius Caesar (22.22)
  • King George (32.32)
  • Stratford-on-Avon/Shakespeare (36.20, 37.26)
  • Charles Wesley (50.31-34)
  • Napoleon versus the British (53.24-32)
  • Methodist Conference, Wesleyans, and Women Preaching (Epilogue.26-28)