Allusion

    Allusion is a stylistic device or trope, in which one refers covertly or indirectly to an object or circumstance that
    has occurred or existed in an external context. It is left to the reader or hearer to make the connection (Fowler);
    an overt allusion is a misnomer for what is simply a reference. In the most traditional sense, allusion is a literary
    term, though the word also has come to encompass indirect references to any source, including film, art, or real
    events. In the field of film criticism, a film-maker's unspoken visual reference to another film has come to be called
    an homage.

    A sobriquet is an allusion.

    Allusion is an economical device, a figure of speech that draws upon the ready stock of ideas or emotion already
    associated with a topic in a relatively short space. Thus, an allusion is understandable only to those with prior
    knowledge of the reference in question. (See Cultural literacy.)

    Allusion differs from the similar term intertextuality in that it is an intentional effort.

    The poetry of T.S. Eliot is often described as "allusive", because of his habit of referring to names, places or
    images that may only make sense in the light of prior knowledge. This technique can add to the experience, but
    for the uninitiated can make Eliot's work seem dense and hard to decipher.

    A Common Woman
    No Helen of Troy she,
    Taking the world by war,
    But a woman in plain paper wrapped
    With a heart of love untapped,
    She waits, yearning for her destiny
    Whether it be a he on a charger white
    Or one riding behind a garbage truck.
    Perhaps instead a room of students
    Lurks in the shadows of her life
    Needing her interest to be shown.
    Yet other concerns may call
    No, no Helen of Troy she,
    But a woman set the world to tame
    Wherever she may be.
    Helen of Troy brings to mind a woman so beautiful that two countries went to war over her.
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