allusion

by way of allusion

-- an allusion to the miracle of Balaam's ass speaking.

-- now commonly with allusion to the cell (the Black Hole) in a fort at Calcutta, into which 146 English prisoners were thrust by the nabob Suraja Dowla on the night of June 20, 17656, and in which 123 of the prisoners died before morning from lack of air.

-- so called in allusion to its unequal hardness in two different directions

characterized by balance and antithesis and alliteration and extended similes with and allusions to nature and mythology