Question

He title of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is an example of what literary device?

a.)allegory
b.)proverb
c.)literary allusion
d.)extended metaphor

Answer 1

c. literary allusion is the answer.

Answer 2

The title of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is an example of literary allusion. Option C is correct.

The title of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe stems from a line in a poem by William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming." The third and fourth lines of the poem are:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world ...

Allusion is defined as a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. It is a passing comment and the writer expects the reader to have knowledge to indentify the allusion and understand why it is importance in a text.