Allegory
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
The "Allegory of Music" is a popular theme in painting; in this example, Lippi uses symbols popular during the High Renaissance, many of which refer to Greek mythology.
An allegory (from Greek αλλος, , "other", and αγορευειν, agoreuein, "to speak in public") is a story which has a hidden meaning. The characters in allegorical stories are symbols which represent particular ideas. The story has a figurative meaning, not just a literal one.
Allegory is an example of rhetoric, but an allegory does not have to be a story in language: it may be something to look at, such as a painting or sculpture.
An allegory is like a long metaphor. People have to use their imagination to understand what it is trying to say. A fable or parable is a short allegory with one basic idea (a moral).
Sometimes people say that stories have meanings which the author, in fact, did not intend. For instance, many people have suggested that The Lord of the Rings was an allegory for the World Wars, but, in fact, it was written well before the outbreak of World War II, and J.R.R. Tolkien said that it was not an allegory. In this way people sometimes change the author’s ideas. Sometimes they do it for their own political reasons.
[change] Examples
Allegory has been a favourite form in the literature of nearly every nation. It is often used as a way of criticising things or people where it would not be possible to criticise them directly.
In classical literature Plato and Ovid wrote allegories. Dante Alighieri wrote allegories in The Divine Comedy. In the Middle Ages Everyman was a morality play. John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim's Progress tells the story of a man trying to lead a Christian life. Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travels which tells about the strange customs of a far-away country but, in fact, he was criticising things about his own country.
Allegories still continue to be popular today. Pictures, films and plays can be allegories. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies has allegorical meaning, and George Orwell’s Animal Farm which tells the story of animals on the farm, but in fact it is really about the Russian Revolution.
Allegorical artworks include: Sandro Botticelli: La Primavera (Allegory of Spring) and Jan Vermeer The Allegory of Painting
