Elements of Poetry: Allusion

An allusion is one way that writers can infuse a literary work with description and elaboration without having to use more than one or two words. An allusion is a reference to an object, person, or event from another literary work, history, society, etc., that the reader is expected to understand. The allusion will have connotations for the reader and help the reader understand more fully the point the poet is trying to make. The allusion will also help determine the tone of the writing. For example, one place that most people in our culture can identify and explain is Eden. If, in a piece of writing, the poet refers to a place as Eden, the reader understands through the Biblical allusion the setting the writer is trying to create without the time and space a detailed description of a paradise would inevitably take without such an allusion. Therefore, the one word Eden helps the reader to understand the type of setting and also the writer's attitude toward that setting. On the contrary, referring to a place as Hades would conjure up quite a different image for the reader and create a much different tone.