Allusions and Figurative Meaning

1. Write three sentences on the board: "Cleaning out the garage was a Herculean job." / "Everything she cooks turns out perfect — she has the Midas touch." / "Spelling is my Achilles' heel."
2. Ask what each phrase means. Most students will get close from context — a huge job, a lucky touch, a weak spot.
3. Then ask where each phrase comes from. Most will not know, which is the point: these are names of characters from Greek myths, and the phrases carry a story with them. Hand out the three myth cards and let pairs match each to its sentence.

1. Read "The Sewing Tin": "Mom's old sewing tin sat on the top shelf. 'Leave that alone,' she said. 'It's a Pandora's box.' Zara waited until Mom went out to the garden. Then she climbed onto a chair and pried off the lid. Buttons sprang across the floor like popcorn, and a tangle of thread unrolled under the sofa. By the time Mom came back, Zara was still on her knees, and there was no getting any of it back in."
2. Ask: "Without knowing the myth, what does 'a Pandora's box' mean?" Collect answers. Expect something vague: "a special box," "Mom's box."
3. Read the myth card: "In a Greek myth, Pandora was given a jar, later called a box, and told never to open it. Curiosity won. She lifted the lid, and every trouble flew out into the world. She could not get them back in. Only hope stayed inside."
4. Reread Mom's line. Ask what arrived with the two words. Fish for three things: opening it will let out trouble; the trouble cannot be put back; and a warning that curiosity will win — so we expect Zara to open it. Write on the board: "Two words, a whole story."
5. Point out that the ending of the passage pays the allusion off: "there was no getting any of it back in" is exactly Pandora's problem. That is how you know the author meant it.
6. Contrast with the plain figure of speech in the same passage: "Buttons sprang across the floor like popcorn." That brings a picture — small things jumping in all directions — but no story. A simile compares two things; an allusion points to a specific story or character.

“Two words just brought a whole story with them. That is what an allusion does. Your job is not to retell the myth — it is to say what the myth brings to this sentence.”

1. Give pairs three sentences: "Carrying all the chairs upstairs by himself was a Herculean task for Leo." / "The classroom was an oven by lunchtime." / "The tin sat on the top shelf." They fill the three-column sheet: literal, figurative or allusion, and what it means here.
2. Expected: Herculean is an allusion (Hercules, the hero of twelve impossible labors — so the job was huge and needed great strength); "an oven" is a metaphor (the room was very hot); "the tin sat on the top shelf" is literal.
3. For the allusion, pairs write one sentence starting "The allusion tells us ___." Stop any pair who writes the whole Hercules story; send them back to Leo and the chairs.
4. Ask pairs to rewrite Mom's line without the allusion — "Leave it alone, it will make a mess" — and say what was lost: the warning that the mess cannot be undone and the hint that Zara will open it anyway.

“Go back to Leo and the chairs. What does Hercules tell us about this job?”

1. Students complete the figurative-language page. The passage and a short myth reference are printed on the sheet.
2. For every allusion they must name the myth and write what it adds in their own sentence.

1. Ask: "What did 'Pandora's box' bring to Mom's warning?" Take one answer that names an effect in the sentence, not a retelling.