LET THE WILD RUMPUS START!!!!
An allusion is an implied comparison, and the implication comes from the assumption that the quote or picture is so familiar that the reader knows what the author or artist is referencing. Therefore no explanation is necessary, for
Familiar acts are beautiful through love
and comfortable repetition.
I'm willing to bet that anyone who reads this post will without thinking immediately recognize the drawn figures in the photo as characters from the children's book Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak.
But I'm also willing to bet that nobody was able to connect the quote above with its author, Shelley,* and that his words are only recognizable as a quote because it's formatted as such. Rather than an allusion, this is an example of a literary reference so obscure that it's sort of like a secret handshake; only initiates know what's going on.
What is the purpose of a true allusion? Professor, author, and lawyer Marcius Willson explains:
We may allude to facts in history, or to anything whatever in art, literature, or science, for the purpose of adding force or beauty to the thought which we wish to express; and it is always with an implied comparison between the thought and the object used for illustration.* Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound
Source: Willson
 
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