Allusion, Atmosphere, Imagery, and Metaphor

Allusion: A brief reference to a person, place, thing, event or idea in history or literature. Allusions are often indirect or brief references to well known characters or events, and are often used to summarize broad, complex ideas or emotions in one quick, powerful image. Allusions imply reading and cultural experiences shared by the writer and reader, functioning as a kind of shorthand whereby the recalling of something outside a work supplies an emotional or intellectual context. 

"I made mention of certain mutual friends, and generally gave her news of London life, speaking particularly of the theatre (for I knew Maude had loved it) and describing Mr McReady's farewell appearance as Macbeth at the Haymarket" (Russell, "Sardonicus" 441). 

Atmosphere: The mood of the narrative, created by means of setting (locale and surroundings in which the narrative takes place), attitude (of the narrator and the characters in the narrative), and descriptions.

"Atmosphere is the aura of mood that surrounds the story. It is to fiction what the sensory level is to poetry. In fact, it is often said that a story that has as its strongest element a mood or atmosphere is a "poetic" story. Such narratives were perhaps more popular in the past, especially in the Gothic fiction of the nineteenth century, than they are in the twentieth century. Gothic literature emphasizes the enigmatic, the dark, the distorted...The mood story attempts by descriptions and emotive means to influence the perceptions of the reader, to call into play sensations and emotions. The setting of the story will have a great deal to do with these evocations of mood. What would a ghost story be without an old Victorian mansion with creaking doors, an ancient castle full of cobwebs or some other such Gothic setting?" (Turco, The Book of Literary Terms 50-51). 

Imagery: A word, phrase, or figure of speech (especially a simile or a metaphor) that addresses the senses, suggesting mental pictures of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, or actions. Images offer sensory impressions to the reader and also convey emotions and moods through their verbal pictures.

“The stained-glass windows were lit up from within, casting their light obliquely across the dark façade of the house opposite, so that in the gloom it seemed to be sprinkled with fires and burning nets, and with tracery of gold… The walls were, to put it fancifully, in their carnival dress, all bedecked with and tricked out with tapestries, velvets, and glittering candelabra” (Borel, "Andreas Vesalius" 70).

Metaphor: A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, without using the word "like" or "as." Metaphors assert the identity of dissimilar things. Metaphors can be subtle and powerful, and can transform people, places, objects, and ideas into whatever the writer imagines them to be. An implied metaphor is a more subtle comparison; the terms being compared are not so specifically explained. An extended metaphor is a sustained comparison in which part or all of a poem consists of a series of related metaphors. 

“The response was a renewed uproar: They clattered away with bells, knives, and pans, raising a thunder that was agonizing, deafening, a whole symphony of murder” (Borel, "Andreas Vesalius" 72).