Notes:Anne of Green Gables/Cultural references and allusions

"The good stars met in your horoscope Made you of spirit and fire and dew."

- Anne of Green Gables – Epigraph

These two lines are from a poem called "Evelyn Hope", by Robert Browning. It is worth mentioning that the lines have been changed very slightly from the original poem: the original reads: "The good stars met in your horoscope/Made you of spirit, fire and dew". The quote at the beginning of Anne of Green Gables adds an extra "and".

"The little birds sang as if it were The one day of summer in all the year."

The quote above is from a poem called "The Vision of Sir Launfal", by James Russell Lowell. It is taken from Part First, stanza III.

"But there was a passenger dropped off for you – a little girl. She’s sitting out there on the shingles. I asked her to go into the ladies’ waiting room, but she informed me gravely that she preferred to stay outside. 'There was more scope for imagination,' she said. She’s a case, I should say."

'Scope for imagination' is borrowed from Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (Chapter 42, opening lines). The station master quotes Anne's words when explaining to Matthew that there is a girl, not a boy, waiting for him on the platform.

"I wouldn't be a bit afraid, and it would be lovely to sleep in a wild cherry-tree all white with bloom in the moonshine, don't you think? You could imagine you were dwelling in marble halls, couldn't you?"

Here Anne is referring to Act II, Scene I of Michael William Balfe's opera, The Bohemian Girl: "I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls / With vassals and serfs by my side".

"I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I've never been able to believe it. I don't believe a rose would be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage."

Here Anne is referring to Act II, Scene II of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: "What's in a name? that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet".

"I know ever so many pieces of poetry off by heart – "The Battle of Hohenlinden" and "Edinburgh after Flodden", and "Bingen on the Rhine", and most of the 'Lady of the Lake' and most of 'The Seasons' by James Thomson. Don't you just love poetry that gives you a crinkly feeling up and down your back? There is a piece in the Fifth Reader - "The Downfall of Poland" - that is just full of thrills."

"Bingen on the Rhine" is a poem by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton. When Anne is relating her history to Marilla on the way to Mrs. Spencer's, she mentions it as one of the poems she has memorised. "The Battle of Hohenlinden" (1803) and "The Fall of Poland" (1799) are poems by Thomas Campbell (1777-1844). "Edinburgh after Flodden" is a poem by the Scottish poet William Edmondstoune Aytoun (1813-1865). The Lady of the Lake (1810) is a long narrative poem by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). The Seasons (1730) is a long poem by the Scottish poet James Thomson (1700-1748).

"The shore road was 'woodsy and wild and lonesome'."

This quote is a reference to John Greenleaf Whittier's poem, "Cobbler Keezar's Vision".

"God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth."

This quote is the answer to the question "What is God?" in the Westminster Shorter Catechism (1674).

"Marilla felt more embarrassed than ever. She had intended to teach Anne the childish classic, 'Now I lay me down to sleep'."

"Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" is a popular children's prayer which has its origins the eighteenth century.

"I'll send to the manse tomorrow and borrow the Peep of Day series"

The Peep of Day; or, A Series of the Earliest Religious Instruction the Infant Mind is Capable of Receiving was an instructive religious book for children written by Favell Lee Mortimer (1802-1878).

"This isn't poetry, but it makes me feel just the way poetry does. "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." That is just like a line of music."

This quote is a reference to "The Lord's Prayer" from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (1662).

"Marilla was as fond of morals as the Duchess in Wonderland"

The Duchess is a character in Lewis Carroll's novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865).

"[Marilla] understood in dismay that Anne was actually enjoying her valley of humiliation"

This is a reference to The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (1678).

"Then all the other little girls recited a paraphrase. She [Miss Rogerson] asked me if I knew any. I told her I didn't, but I could recite, 'The Dog at His Master's Grave' if she liked. That's in the Third Royal Reader. It isn't a really truly religious piece of poetry, but it's so sad and melancholy that it might as well be."

"The Dog at His Master's Grave" is a poem that was written by Lydia Howard Huntly Sigourney.

"Quick as the slaughtered squadrons fell In Midian's evil day"

This was part of the nineteenth paraphrase which Anne's Sunday school teacher, Miss Rogerson, told Anne to learn and recite the next week in Sunday school. It is from an old Scottish Christmas carol called "The Race that Long in Darkness Pined".

"I sat just as still as I could and the text was Revelations, third chapter, second and third verses. It was a very long text. If I was a minister I'd pick the short, snappy ones."

Revelation 3:2-3 from the New Testament.

"Diana is going to teach me to sing a song called 'Nelly in the Hazel Dell.'"

"Nelly of the Hazel Dell", or "The Hazel Dell" (1853) was a popular song by George Frederick Root.

"Oh dear, I'm afraid Rachel was right from the first. But I've put my hand to the plough and I won't look back."

This quote is a reference to Luke 9:62.

"Alice Andrews is going to bring a new Pansy book next week and we're all going to read it out loud, chapter about, down by the brook."

"Pansy" was the pen name of Isabella Macdonald Alden (1841-1930), who wrote over one hundred Christian story books for children.

"I shall never forgive Gilbert Blythe,' said Anne firmly. 'And Mr. Phillips spelled my name without an e, too. The iron has entered into my soul, Diana."

This is another reference to chapter 42 of A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: "I heard his chains upon his legs, as he turned his body to lay his little stick upon the bundle.—He gave a deep sigh.—I saw the iron enter into his soul!—I burst into tears".

"It was like heaping coals of fire on my head."

This quote is a reference to Proverbs 25:22.

"The stars in their courses fight against me"

This quote is a reference to Judges 5:20.

"The Caesar's pageant shorn of Brutus' bust Did but of Rome's best son remind her more,"

This quote is taken from Canto the Fourth of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by George Gordon, Lord Byron.

"[Prissy Andrews] 'climbed the slimy ladder, dark without one ray of light,'"

This quote is a reference to the poem that Prissy reads at the concert: "Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight" by Rose Hartwick Thorpe (1867).

"When the choir sang 'Far above the Gentle Daisies', Anne gazed at the ceiling as if it were frescoed with angels"

This is a reference to the song "Far above the Gentle Daisies" written by George Cooper and composed by Harrison Millard (1869).

"Mr. Phillips gave Mark Antony's oration over the dead body of Caesar in the most heart-stirring tones."

Mark Antony's speech over the dead body of Caesar (44 B.C.), which Mr. Phillips recites at the Christmas concert, was recorded by Dion Cassius in his History of Rome and popularized by William Shakespeare in Act III Scene II of Julius Caesar.

"Only one number on the program failed to interest her. When Gilbert Blythe recited 'Bingen on the Rhine' Anne picked up Rhoda Murray's library book and read it until he had finished, when she sat rigidly stiff and motionless while Diana clapped her hands until they tingled."

Gilbert Blythe recites "Bingen on the Rhine" at the Debating Club concert in February 1877, on Diana Barry's birthday.

"Oh, Anne, how could you pretend not to listen to him? When he came to the line, 'There's another, not a sister,' he looked right down at you."

Diana also remarks on Gilbert's performance to Anne. "There's another, not a sister" is from the beginning of stanza five of "Bingen on the Rhine", though with the emphasis on the word "another" instead of the word "not". This is likely a reference to Gilbert's romantic interest in Anne at that point, though Anne was too stubborn to realise the romance of it.

"Mr. Phillips gave all the Mayflowers he found to Prissy Andrews and I heard him say "sweets to the sweet"."

This quote is a reference to Act V Scene I of Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

"We marched in procession down the road, two by two, with our bouquets and wreaths, singing "My Home on the Hill"."

This is a reference to the song "My Home on the Hill" by W. C. Baker (1866).

"[Ruby Gillis] asked if there was to be a Sunday-school picnic this summer. I didn't think that it was a very proper question to ask because it hadn't any connexion with the lesson - the lesson was about Daniel in the lions' den - but Mrs. Allan just smiled and said she thought there would be."

This is a reference to chapter 6 of the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament.

"'Mrs. Barry had her table decorated,' said Anne, who was not entirely guiltless of the wisdom of the serpent"

This is a reference to chapter 3 of the Book of Genesis, where Satan, disguised as a snake, convinces Eve to taste the forbidden fruit. In chapter 21, Anne convinces Marilla to let her decorate the table for the Reverend Allan's visit by appealing to Marilla's dislike of being outdone by Mrs. Barry.

"All went merry as a marriage bell until Anne's layer cake was passed."

This is a reference to line 8 of "The Eve of Waterloo" by George Gordon, Lord Byron.

"For Anne to take things calmly would have been to change her nature. All 'spirit and fire and dew', as she was, the pleasures and pains of life came to her with trebled intensity."

This quote is another reference to "Evelyn Hope" by Robert Browning.

"Now for my father's arm, she said, my woman's heart farewell."

Anne recites "Mary, Queen o' Scots" by Henry Glassford Bell for recitation class and Ruby remarks that the above two lines 'made her blood run cold'.

"I'm bringing [Anne] up and not Rachel Lynde, who'd pick faults in the Angel Gabriel himself if he lived in Avonlea."

Marilla is referring to the Angel Gabriel of the Old and New Testaments, who most notably appears to the Virgin Mary to foretell the birth of Christ in the Gospel of Luke.

"Oh, Marilla, "what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive". That is poetry, but it is true."

Anne quotes from Sir Walter Scott's epic poem, Marmion (1808), after falling foul to vanity and accidentally dying her hair green.

"But it's so ridiculous to have a red-headed Elaine,' mourned Anne. 'I'm not afraid to float down and I'd love to be Elaine. But it's ridiculous just the same. Ruby ought to be Elaine because she is so fair and has such lovely long golden hair - Elaine had "all her bright hair streaming down," you know. And Elaine was the lily maid. Now, a red-haired person cannot be a lily maid."

and

"Well, I'll be Elaine,' said Anne, yielding reluctantly, [...] 'Ruby, you must be King Arthur and Jane will be Guinevere and Diana must be Lancelot. But first you must be the brothers and fathers. We can't have the old dumb servitor because there isn't room for two in the flat when one is lying down. We must pall the barge all its length in blackest samite."

In chapter 28, Anne, Diana, Ruby, and Jane reenact Tennyson's poem, "Lancelot and Elaine", from the Idylls of the Kings (1859-1885); a cycle of twelve poems which retell the legend of King Arthur, his wife Guinevere, and various knights connected with the tale, which are taken from Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur (1485). In "Lancelot and Elaine", Elaine of Astolat falls in love with Lancelot after he accepts her token favour to wear at a tournament, unbeknownst to her that he is having an affair with the Queen, Guinevere. When Lancelot rejects Elaine's love for him, she gives up living and eventually dies from a broken heart. Some time later, Guinevere, while in a jealous rave over Lancelot's neglect of her, throws her diamonds out of the window and into the river below, just as Elaine's funeral barge is passing by. Elaine's body is brought into the castle where Lancelot muses over Elaine's pure love for him and how Guinevere's love for him has rotted away into jealousy. In the first quote given above, Anne quotes directly from "Lancelot and Elaine", "all her bright hair streaming down", as her brothers and father kiss her goodbye and their servant rows away. It is worth noting that in the 1934 and 1985 film versions Anne recites from Tennyson's "The Lady of Shallot", which is also based on the legend of Elaine and Lancelot, but differs in some respects (the Lady is cursed to stay in her tower, she only sees Lancelot once through a mirror, and does not have family or friends), and is adapted from the thirteenth-century Italian novella, Donna di Scalotta.

"The stubborn spearsmen still made good Their dark impenetrable wood,"

This quote is another reference to Marmion by Sir Walter Scott; a poem which Miss Stacy made her pupils memorize for their English class.

"Miss Stacy caught me reading Ben-Hur in school yesterday afternoon when I should have been studying my Canadian history."

This is a reference to the religious novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, by Lew Wallace (1880).

"'What is Gilbert Blythe going to be?' queried Marilla, seeing that Anne was opening her Caesar."

Julius Caesar, a Roman statesman, is also well-known for his Latin works of prose, most notably his military memoirs: The Gallic Wars and The Civil War. Anne reads Caesar's prose for her Latin class.

"Where the Brook and River Meet"

"Where the Brook and River Meet", the title of Chapter 31, is the second line of the third stanza of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Maidenhood".

"Hills peeped o'er hill and Alps on Alps arose."

This quote is a reference to "An Essay on Criticism" by Alexander Pope.

"Oh, Diana, tomorrow the geometry exam comes off and when I think of it it takes every bit of determination I possess to keep from opening my Euclid."

Anne is referring to Euclid of Alexandria, a Greek mathematician, also known as the "father of geometry".

"One moonbeam from the forehead to the crown."

This quote is a reference to the Fourth Book of Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Aurora is quite similar to Anne in some respects; namely she is a poor orphan with a lively imagination who is brought up by her no-nonsense maiden aunt and later achieves her aspiration of becoming a successful writer and marries the man she loves.

"Well, we heard him say - didn't we, Jane? - "Who is that girl on the platform with the splendid Titian hair? She has a face I should like to paint.""

This is a reference to Tiziano Vecellio, known in English as "Titian", a leading Italian Renaissance painter of the sixteenth century.

"I ought to be at home studying my Virgil - that horrid old professor gave us twenty lines to start in on tomorrow."

Virgil (70 B.C.-19 B.C), an ancient Roman poet, is best known for his three major works of Latin literature: the Eclogues, the Georgics, and the Aeneid.

"The Reaper Whose Name is Death"

"The Reaper Whose Name is Death", the title of chapter 37, is a reference to the first line of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "The Reaper and the Flowers, a Psalm of Death". In the poem, the Reaper reaps both the "bearded grain" (the old) and the "flowers" that grow between (i.e. the young).

"Even at Green Gables affairs slipped back into their old groove and work was done and duties fulfilled with regularity as before, although always with the aching sense of 'loss in all familiar things'."

This quote is a reference to Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl by John Greenleaf Whittier (1866).

"When [Anne] finally left [the graveyard] and walked down the long hill that sloped to the Lake of Shining Waters it was past sunset and all Avonlea lay before her in a dreamlike afterlight - 'a haunt of ancient peace'."

This quote is a reference to "The Palace of Art" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

""God's in His heaven, all's right with the world," whispered Anne softly."

The closing words to Anne of Green Gables are taken from Robert Browning's poem, Pippa Passes (1841).