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. allégorie.] 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.
2. Anything which represents by suggestive
resemblance; an emblem.
3. (Paint. & Sculpt.) A figure
representation which has a meaning beyond notion directly conveyed by the
object painted or sculptured.
Syn. -- Metaphor; fable. -- 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.
An allegory is a prolonged metaphor. Bunyan's "Pilgrim's
Progress" and Spenser's "Faërie Queene" are celebrated examples of the
allegory.
