Biblical Allusions in Clarel: A Supplement to Bezanson

Abstract

Abstract:Walter Bezanson’s “Discussions,” in Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land, identifies 258 biblical allusions in the poem. Subsequent scholarship has identified twenty-three more, but there remain at least 120 further biblical allusions that have not been noted in the literature. While in some instances it is no doubt the case that an allusion was deliberately omitted as being too obvious to mention, there remain at least 90 cases in which a significant allusion appears to have been genuinely overlooked. In addition, a number of Bezanson’s identifications are incomplete or in need of correction. This paper aims to provide a needed supplement to Bezanson’s catalogue of biblical allusions in Clarel.