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allegories

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allegories


  1  definition  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  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. 
 
  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. 
 
  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. 
 
  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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