metareference

English

Etymology

meta- +‎ reference

Noun

metareference (countable and uncountable, plural metareferences)

1. A technique in metafiction whereby a character displays awareness of being part of a dramatic work.
   • 2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 150:

     The poem's second line, for example, concludes with the lament "but my nerves. Lord these pensive endings." The latter can be read as a play on words, as in "nerve endings"; as a metareference to the end of that particular line; or even against the very end of the poem itself: "the darkness now confronts me . . ."