Allegories

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Allegory \Al"le*go*ry\, n.; pl. {Allegories}. [L. allegoria, Gr.
     ?, description of one thing under the image of another; ?
     other + ? to speak in the assembly, harangue, ? place of
     assembly, fr. ? to assemble: cf. F. all['e]gorie.]
     1. A figurative sentence or discourse, in which the principal
        subject is described by another subject resembling it in


        its properties and circumstances. The real subject is thus
        kept out of view, and we are left to collect the
        intentions of the writer or speaker by the resemblance of
        the secondary to the primary subject.
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     2. Anything which represents by suggestive resemblance; an
        emblem.
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     3. (Paint. & Sculpt.) A figure representation which has a
        meaning beyond notion directly conveyed by the object
        painted or sculptured.
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     Syn: Metaphor; fable.
  
     Usage: {Allegory}, {Parable}. "An allegory differs both from
            fable and parable, in that the properties of persons
            are fictitiously represented as attached to things, to
            which they are as it were transferred. . . . A figure
            of Peace and Victory crowning some historical
            personage is an allegory. "I am the Vine, ye are the
            branches" [--John xv. 1-6] is a spoken allegory. In
            the parable there is no transference of properties.
            The parable of the sower [--Matt. xiii. 3-23]
            represents all things as according to their proper
            nature. In the allegory quoted above the properties of
            the vine and the relation of the branches are
            transferred to the person of Christ and His apostles
            and disciples." --C. J. Smith.
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     Note: An allegory is a prolonged metaphor. Bunyan's
           "Pilgrim's Progress" and Spenser's "Fa["e]rie Queene"
           are celebrated examples of the allegory.
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