Poetry Dictionary

Allegory

A figurative illustration of truths or generalizations about human conduct or experience in a narrative or description by the use of symbolic fictional figures and actions which resemble the subject's properties and circumstances.

Note: Though similar to both a series of symbols and an extended metaphor, the meaning of an allegory is more direct and less subject to ambiguity than a symbol; it is distinguishable from an extended metaphor in that the literal equivalent of an allegory's figurative comparison is not usually expressed.

Note: Probably the best known allegory in English literature is Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene.

(Compare Aphorism, Apologue, Didactic Poetry, Epigram, Fable, Gnome, Proverb)

(See also Metaphor, Personification)

References

• Poetry Dictionary
• Words beginning with the letter A
• Types of Poetry