Allusions at The Lake Isle

After reading The Lake Isle by Ezra Pound, it is obvious that the poetic device of allusion plays an important role in the poem. From the very first line, the speaker is pleading with these Gods for a little tobacco shop: "O God, O Venus, O Mercury, patron of thieves". The tone is full of such hope and for longing, the reader instantly feels sympathetic toward the speaker. Personally, I felt pity for this man because of the act of him begging to these gods. If it was not for this act of desperation, I do not think it would as emotional and using the ethos way of persuasion. The gods themselves are deemed more powerful in society, making the speaker's pleading also seem more worthy of his calling the "great" gods. For example, Mercury was a major Roman god and the patron of financial gain, communication, and luck. These are the main three events that the speaker severely seeks. Financial gain will let the speaker's dream tobacco store become a reality and also obtain prosperity from the profits; communication is needed in order to even persuade the other gods to listen to his prayers; and of course, pure luck is always a necessity when aspiring for a hard goal such as securing a tobacco shop. Also, in the beginning of the second stanza in this short poem, the speaker repeats his original plea of : "O God, O Venus, O Mercury, patron of thieves" to address the main reason for even wanting a tobacco store so much. The reason is that the speaker passionately hates his job of writing that requires too much effort. Once again, the speaker frantically prays to these majestic gods for their dominant patrons and hope for answered wishes. Simply, the allusion of these three gods and the speaker craving for their help, dramatically add to the whole aspect of the poem. If not, it would simply be a poem with an image about a tobacco store and the random hate for a profession. The allusions puts the entire content and subject into a better explained perspective.