What literary devices does Jane Austen use in Sense and Sensibility, such as foreshadowing and allusion?
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Among others, Jane Austen alludes to William Gilpin, author of essays on the picturesque, when Marianne says:
Every body pretends to feel and tries to describe with the taste and elegance of him who first defined what picturesque beauty was.
Marianne is saying here that she has a real appreciation for Gilpin while other people just pretend to because it is fashionable to do so.
Elinor manages three allusions in one sentence when she says to Marianne:
You know what he thinks of Cowper and Scott; you are certain of his estimating their beauties as he ought, and you have received every assurance of his admiring Pope no more than is proper.
The "he" Elinor refers to is Marianne's beloved Willoughby. The poets described are significant. Cowper and Scott would be identified with the emotion and sensibility (sentiment) most admired by Marianne, who lives too much out of her heart. Elinor is commenting that like Marianne, Willoughby appreciates these poets of sensibility—or at least says he does to...
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