Allegory

Allegory, fictional literary narrative or artistic expression that conveys a symbolic meaning parallel to but distinct from, and more important than, the literal meaning. The term derives from the Greek allégoria which means “speaking otherwise”. Allegory has also been defined as an extended metaphor. The symbolic meaning is usually expressed through personifications and other symbols. Related forms are the fable and the parable, which are didactic, comparatively short and simple allegories.

Allegory has its foundations in ancient religion, and the art reached its height during the Middle Ages (in the work of Dante and Geoffrey Chaucer) and the Renaissance. It remained a popular literary form until the end of the 17th century. Two early examples are Le Roman de la Rose by the French poets Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun and The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman, attributed to the late 14th-century poet William Langland. The former is an allegory of human love, the latter an allegorical protest against the clergy. In Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, social commentary on conditions in 16th-century England is concealed beneath a surface of chivalric romance. One of the greatest of all allegories is John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, a 17th-century prose narrative symbolically addressing the search for spiritual salvation.

Although modern authors generally favour less abstract, more personal symbolism, allegories are still written, an extremely popular example of which is Animal Farm by George Orwell.

See also Biblical Scholarship.