In the poem the prisoner is suffering " for the colour of his hair ", a natural, given attribute which, in a clearly coded reference to homosexuality, is reviled as " nameless and abominable " ( recalling the legal phrase peccatum horribile, inter christianos non nominandum, " the horrible sin, not to be named amongst Christians ").

* A reference to the poem occurs in Short Cuts ( 1993 ).

* The song " No Joy In Pudville " by Steroid Maximus is a reference to this poem.

Cerberus featured in many prominent works of Greek and Roman literature, most famously in Virgil's Aeneid, Peisandros of Rhodes ' epic poem the Labours of Hercules, the story of Orpheus in Plato's Symposium, and in Homer's Iliad, which is the only known reference to one of Heracles ' labours which first appeared in a literary source.

One of the earliest direct reference to Mabon can be found in the tenth century poem Pa Gur, in which Arthur recounts the feats and achievements of his knights so as to gain entrance to a fortress guarded by Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr, the eponymous porter.

The first clear reference to " rhymes of Robin Hood " is from the late-14th-century poem Piers Plowman, but the earliest surviving copies of the narrative ballads that tell his story date to the 15th century, or the first decade of the 16th century.

This is regarded as unhistorical by modern scholars, perhaps invented by the comic poets or originating from a misreading of a first-person reference in a non-biographical poem.

Victorian National Party leader Peter Ryan was quoted as saying that Bracks had " killed the man from Snowy River ", a reference to the Banjo Paterson poem " The Man from Snowy River ".

A late ( 1890s ) reference to the urban legend of the murdering barber can be found in the poem by the Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson — The Man from Ironbark.

Escorting her through the forest towards the final brook-crossing, the Knight recites a long poem of his own composition, and repeatedly falls off his horse — his clumsiness is a reference to the " eccentric " L-shaped movements of chess knights, and may also be interpreted as a self-deprecating joke about Lewis Carroll's own physical awkwardness and stammering in real life.

In relation to this discrepancy in the frequency of Lucretius ' reference to the apparent subject of his poem, Kannengiesse advances the theory that Lucretius wrote the first version of De rerum natura for the reader at large, and subsequently revised in order to write it for Memmius.

The White City later inspired the reference to " alabaster cities " in her poem " America the Beautiful ".

Finally, and most intriguingly, it has been argued that a reference to ‘ the bird of loudest lay ’ in Shakespeare's mysterious allegorical poem The Phoenix and the Turtle may be to the composer.

A classic reference which has generally entered modern language is the concept that " Hope springs eternal " taken from Alexander Pope's Essay on Man, the phrase reading " Hope springs eternal in the human breast, Man never is, but always to be blest :" Another popular reference, " Hope is the thing with feathers ," is from a poem by Emily Dickinson.

An early reference to kissing is contained in the familiar second verse of the Old Testament book, Song of Solomon, an ancient Hebrew love poem:

In Japan, the earliest unambiguous reference to a paper model is in a short poem by Ihara Saikaku in 1680 which describes paper butterflies in a dream.

Origami butterflies were used during the celebration of Shinto weddings to represent the bride and groom, so paperfolding had already become a significant aspect of Japanese ceremony by the Heian period ( 794 – 1185 ) of Japanese history, enough that the reference in this poem would be recognized.

Probably the earliest reference to coca in English literature is Abraham Cowley's poem " The Legend of Coca " in his 1662 collection of poems " Six Books of Plants ".

A review article by Andrew R. George says that its builder may have " reigned in the fourteenth, twelfth, eleventh or ninth century " but argues that The reference to a ziqqurrat at Babylon in the Creation Epic ( Enûma Eliš · VI 63: George 1992: 301-2 ) is more solid evidence, however, for a Middle Assyrian piece of this poem survives to prove the long-held theory that it existed already in the second millennium BC.

While the sixth poem refers to Assyria, it is uncertain whether it is an historical reference to the ancient Ninevah, or a prophecy, which religious commentators consider refers to the Seleucid kingdom of Syria, which also took the name Assyria.

The title is a reference to Flow My Tears, an ayre by the 16th century composer John Dowland, setting to music a poem by an anonymous author ( possibly Dowland himself ).

Emily Dickinson's 1855 poem " I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died " also makes reference to flies in the context of death.

This observation too may have reference to Anglo-Saxon poetry.

There is a brief reference to his love poetry in a passage by Cicero.

The ' far-away light ' () is a reference to St Elmo's Fire, an electrical discharge supposed by ancient Greek mariners to be an epiphany of the Dioscuri, but the meaning of the line was obscured by gaps in the papyrus until reconstructed by a modern scholar — such reconstructions are typical of the extant poetry ( see Scholars, fragments and sources below ).

Eusebius ' Preparation for the Gospel bears witness to the literary tastes of Origen: Eusebius quotes no comedy, tragedy, or lyric poetry, but makes reference to all the works of Plato and to an extensive range of later philosophic works, largely from Middle Platonists from Philo to the late 2nd century.

The saints of Sufism are infamous for being " drunk " due to their love of God ; hence, the constant reference to wine in Sufi poetry and music.

In addition to literature such as novels, poetry, short stories and drama, Project Gutenberg also has cookbooks, reference works and issues of periodicals.

If Fragment 98 of her poetry is accepted as biographical evidence and as a reference to her daughter ( see below ), it may indicate that she had already had a daughter by the time she was exiled.

The exact origin of the name is unknown, but it is often attributed to laboratory leader J. Robert Oppenheimer as a reference to the poetry of John Donne.

The messenger was commonplace in troubadour poetry ; many songs reference a messenger who will bring it to its intended ear.

The lyric poetry of Europe in this period was created largely without reference to the classical past, by the pioneers of courtly poetry and courtly love.

In reference, part of Vellekla by the 10th century Icelandic skald Einarr skálaglamm is provided, where the term " Kvasir ’ s blood " for ‘ poetry ’ is used.

He further distinguished a twofold reference of speech ( schisis ) to things ( pragmata ) and to the hearers, and referred poetry and rhetoric to the latter.

The latter seems to be a reference to Smyrneis, whereas the sweet verses — apparently the slender, economical kind of verses on which Callimachus modelled his own poetry — appear to refer to Nanno.

However, given the nature of the subject, this guideline has been applied with common sense, and reference is made to poetry in other languages or poets who are not primarily English where appropriate.

At another poetry reading, Common said, “ flyers say ‘ free Mumia ’ on my freezer ,” a reference to Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was controversially convicted of killing Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981.

Old English poetry falls broadly into two styles or fields of reference, the heroic Germanic and the Christian.

In discussing the richly allusive poetry of Virgil's Georgics, R. F. Thomas distinguished six categories of allusive reference, which are applicable to a wider cultural sphere.

" This commentary by Lowell was made in reference to the popularity of Allen Ginsberg and the Beat Generation poets and was a signal from Lowell that he was trying to incorporate some of their " raw " energy into his own poetry.

In Mahākāvya, or Indian epic poetry, the ashoka tree is mentioned in the Ramayana in reference to the Ashoka Vatika ( garden of Ashoka trees ) where Hanuman first meets Sita.

The classical Arabic poetry and the text of the Qur ' an are two resources which can be used as foundational reference in ascertaining the meaning and signification of the remaining literal and figurative diction of the Qur ' an and its style of expression.

For the type of Western reference work used in poetry, see rhyming dictionary.

The history of utamakura is found in documents on the study of poetry such as the Utamakura of Noin, by the poet and monk of the late Heian period, and lists of places in the Utamakura Nayose ( Utamakura reference book ).

Although the term kigo was coined as late as 1908, representation of and reference to the seasons has long been important in Japanese culture and poetry.