And then there’s all the callbacks to those. Here’s a few lines of Keats I read recently:
...but to that second circle of sad Hell
Where in the gust, the whirl-wind, and the flaw
Of hail-stones, lovers need not tell
Their sorrows; pale were the lips I saw
Pale were the lips I kissed, and fair the form
I floated with, about that melancholy storm.
For those keeping score at home, that’s Keats alluding to Dante alluding to a famous and semi-legendary Italian love affair. And the Bible, of course. Earlier in the same poem, Keats throws in a lot of references to Greek myth too.
Of course Keats isn’t alluding to contemporary literature, but to works that have lasted long enough that one can be confident their popularity isn’t limited to a particular moment.
And then there’s all the callbacks to those. Here’s a few lines of Keats I read recently:
For those keeping score at home, that’s Keats alluding to Dante alluding to a famous and semi-legendary Italian love affair. And the Bible, of course. Earlier in the same poem, Keats throws in a lot of references to Greek myth too.
Of course Keats isn’t alluding to contemporary literature, but to works that have lasted long enough that one can be confident their popularity isn’t limited to a particular moment.
In that instance, yes; but these are the Romantics we’re talking about. They referenced each other all the time.
Pop culture references are not a new thing. They just stop being pop after a certain amount of time passes.