Editing Allusion (section)

{{Short description|Figure of speech using indirect reference}}
{{Distinguish|Illusion}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2014}}
'''Allusion''', or '''alluding''', is a [[figure of speech]] that makes a reference to someone or something by name (a person, object, location, etc.) without explaining how it relates to the given context,<ref>{{cite web |title=allusion {{!}} Definition of allusion in English by Oxford Dictionaries |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/allusion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906154010/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/allusion |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 6, 2017 |website=Oxford Dictionaries {{!}} English |access-date=1 October 2018}}</ref><ref>"A covert, implied or indirect reference" (''[[OED]]''); Carmela Perri explored the extent to which an allusion may be overt, in "On alluding" ''Poetics'' '''7''' (1978), and [[M. H. Abrams]] defined allusion as "a brief reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place or event, or to another literary work or passage". (Abrams, ''A Glossary of Literary Terms'' 1971, ''s.v. "Allusion"'').</ref> so that the audience must realize the connection in their own minds.<ref>H.W. Fowler, ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage''.</ref> When a connection is directly and explicitly explained (as opposed to indirectly implied), it is instead often simply termed a [[reference]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/allusion|title=the definition of allusion|website=Dictionary.com|access-date=15 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/reference|title=the definition of reference|website=Dictionary.com|access-date=15 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/allusion |title=Allusion |date=2015 |quote=allusion, in literature, an implied or indirect reference to a person, event, or thing or to a part of another text. }}</ref> In the arts, a literary allusion puts the alluded text in a new context under which it assumes new [[poetic function|meanings and denotations]].<ref name="BenPorot76p107"/> Literary allusion is closely related to [[parody]] and [[pastiche]], which are also "text-linking" [[literary device]]s.<ref name="BenPorot76p107">Ben-Porot (1976) pp. 107–8 quotation: {{quote|The literary allusion is a device for the simultaneous activation of two texts. The activation is achieved through the manipulation of a special signal: a sign (simple or complex) in a given text characterized by an additional larger "referent." This referent is always an independent text. The simultaneous activation of the two texts thus connected results in the formation of intertextual patterns whose nature cannot be predetermined. ... The "free" nature of the intertextual patterns is the feature by which it would be possible to distinguish between the literary allusion and other closely related text-linking devices, such as parody and pastiche.}}</ref>

In a wider, more informal context, an allusion is a passing or casually short statement indicating broader meaning. It is an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication, such as "In the stock market, he met his Waterloo."