Allegory :: essays research papers, informative

metaphorALLEGORY, pronounced AL uh gawr ee, is a degree with more than one meaning. Mostallegories have moral or religious meanings. Famous allegories include thefables attri thoed to Aesop, an ancient Greek writer. Aesops fables seem to portray the adventures of animals and human beings. But the author actuallywanted to teach his readers something roughly human nature.One of Aesops best-known fables is "The Fox and the Grapes." On its surface,or its vocal level of meaning, the story tells of a fox who wants a bunch ofgrapes respite above his head. The fox tries desperately to reach the grapesbut cannot. He at long last gives up, saying that the grapes are probably souranyway. The allegorical meaning of this story is that people may pretend thethings they cannot have are not outlay having.Allegories had their greatest popularity during medieval and Renaissance timesin Europe. The Divine Comedy, scripted by the Italian author Dante Alighieri inthe early 1300s, literall y tells of a mans journey to heaven through hell andpurgatory. Allegorically, the poem describes a Christian soul rising from a advance of sin to a state of blessedness. Other allegories include the parablesof Jesus, and The Faerie Queene, written by the English poet Edmund Spenser inthe late 1500s.Allegories lost popularity in Europe after about 1600, but some, such asPilgrims Progress (1678, 1684) gained recognition in later times. Allegoryalso exists in other ways. Many novels include allegorical suggestions of an