An allusion is a [figure of speech in prose or poetry that makes a] brief, often implicit and indirect, reference within a literary text to something outside the text, whether another text (e.g., the Bible, a myth, another literary work, a painting, or a piece of music) or any imaginary or historical person, place, or thing. (The Norton Anthology of World Literature)
It seeks, by tapping the knowledge and memory of the reader, to secure a resonant emotional effect from the association already in the reader’s mind. (A Handbook to Literature
Allusion Writing Exercise
Choose a scene or section from a work you’ve already written. This can be as small as a paragraph or a full chapter. Start a new document and rewrite the scene or section, including an allusion to a single work. This can be a famous novel, essay, song, painting…. One rule, do not name the title of the work.
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Sources
A Handbook to Literature
“Cogito et Histoire de la Folie.” Jacques Derrida.
Eats Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
The Elements of Style.
New Oxford American Dictionary
The Norton Anthology of World Literature
The Norton Introduction to Philosophy
Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English
Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft
Writing the Other
