Examples of Allegory in Literature

Most of us have grown up reading stories and fables with underlying morals that sought to teach us something that was not explicitly mentioned in the tale told. That is, in extremely simplistic terms, the use of allegory. So, what is an allegory? If you are familiar with the term metaphor, then understanding allegory should not be difficult for you. It is one of the literary devices that uses objects, characters, and even actions to represent an underlying meaning that is different from what the object or character literally translates into. Allegorical representations are found in most mediums of expression, and therefore, language or literature is not the only way to express something that is not visibly clear to the eye. You may be able to notice examples of allegory in art, sculpture, movies, plays, and obviously literature.

While in literature, allegory is noticed in terms of an exaggerated metaphor, how do artists make use of allegory? It is the use of certain symbols that always have an implicit meaning. For example, the use of a grim reaper image will always be suggestive of death and the use of a heart would generally be representative of love. In English language, the word allegory was first used in the year 1382. This definitely does not mean that there were no examples of allegory in literature prior to the fourteenth century but there was no specific term for the figure of speech. The word allegory comes from the Latin term allegoria which translates to mean veiled language. Given below are some of the best allegory examples in literature.

Allegory Examples in Literature

There are several examples of allegory. In this article we give you an explanation of the allegory in those literary works that have stood out over a period of time.

Aesop's Fables
It is probably the first allegorical work that most people read. Credited to Aesop who lived in ancient Greece, it is a collection of short stories like The Fox and the Grapes, The Tortoise and the Hare, and The Ant and the Grasshopper that became a source of moral messages. Aesop used animals and their actions to allegorically represent human beings and our way of living.

The Republic
The Republic by Plato may not be one of the most accurate examples of allegory since it is a philosophical work, but it is one of the most quoted examples. The Allegory of the Cave is a representation of how man accepts conventions and refuses to question them. Plato conveys this message by using a group of prisoners trapped in a cave.

Divine Comedy
This epic poem by Dante published in the fourteenth century is one of the best allegory examples that depicts Dante's journey through Hell, Heaven, and Purgatory to represent the journey of one's soul to God.

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
Published in 1499, there is still dispute about who should be attributed with this work. It is largely believed to be written by Francesco Colonna and is the story of Poliphilo who is searching for his lover Polia. The entire book is written in an allegorical style and is full of yet unsolved mysteries.

Romeo and Juliet
This famous work by William Shakespeare may not be the best known example of allegory but there are many examples of allegory in Romeo and Juliet. This is especially true for the constant comparison of Romeo's love for Juliet to a religious and spiritual experience. A reader can notice this in lines like, "Call me but love and I'll be new baptized."

The Faerie Queen
This incomplete epic poem by Edmund Spenser is one of the most oft quoted allegory examples. It is one of the longest poems in English literature and was written completely in allegory in praise of Queen Elizabeth I.

Gulliver's Travels
This famous literary work about a man and his travels by Jonathan Swift is probably more famous as a satire, than as one of the examples of allegory. But Swift uses many allegorical references throughout his masterpiece.

Animal Farm
George Orwell's Animal Farm is probably one of the best known examples of allegory in literature in which a farm governed by animals stands to represent the communist regime of Stalin in Russia before the Second World War.

Lord of the Flies
William Golding could not have better represented his idea of human nature and a need to put self above the rest than the way he did with this acclaimed novel. Featuring a group of schoolboys stuck on an island, this novel had allegorical representations of the rational mind, democracy, order and civility, and many other such abstract terms.

These are just some of the examples of allegory in popular literature. Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, Black Beauty, Terrible Things - An Allegory of the Holocaust, and the contemporary work, The Man on the Ceiling, are all brilliant figures of speech examples that use allegory. Reading some of these literary works should give you an insight into how to use allegory in your writings.