Allusion

Allusion is a brief reference, explicit or implicit, to a person, place or event, or to another literary work or passage. The practice of making such reference as an artistic device is also called allusion.

Such references serve to make a point stronger or to undercut ironically pointing out the discrepancy between the subject and the allusion.

Earlier, writers used this technique presuming that their readers would easily recognize the allusions used, at least by educated readers. However, a number of modern authors including Joyce, Pound and Eliot often employed such allusions that are highly specialized, or based on the author’s private reading or experience and thereby very difficult for general readers to recognize without any help of scholarly annotation.

Nearby pages
Alluvial, Alluvial fan, Alluvion, Alluvium, Ally