MARK

Biblical Allusions

Boanerges

Dickinson remarks in her riddle that the personified steam engine to which she is referring neighs like Boanerges, which would be nonsense if the reader were not familiar with Jesus’ nickname for the sons of Zebedee, John and James: “Boanerges, that is, ‘Sons of Thunder’” (MARK 3 : 17).

Gethsemane

In this tribute to Charlotte Brontë, Dickinson speaks of Charlotte’s travels and return home to Haworth, commenting that Gethsemene could attest to her anguish. Gethsemene is the garden on the Mount of Olives where Jesus went with his disciples to pray after their observance of the Lord’s Supper, and where He was subsequently betrayed by […]

The Ark of the Covenant

Much like Patrick Henry in his Speech to the Virginia Convention, Whittier declares that there is a “Just God!” (See “Betrayed with a Kiss” for a discussion of that Biblical allusion.) Whittier goes on to speak of “Israel’s Ark of light,” an allusion to The Ark of the Covenant, also called The Ark of the […]

Beelzebub

Tagged With: , , , - MACBETH

In Act II, Scene iii, the Porter responds to the knocking at the gate with, “Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there, i’ th’ name of Beelzebub?” This name first apprears in the Old Testament in 2 KINGS 1 : 2 as the name of “the god of Ekron,” which was a Philistine city.