allegories
Stories with meanings
Allegories are stories, poems, or artworks in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract ideas or moral principles beyond their literal meaning.
In an allegory, a narrative operates on two levels: the surface story and a deeper symbolic meaning, often conveying lessons about politics, religion, or human nature.
Animal Farm is an allegory about Soviet totalitarianism.
Unlike simple metaphors, allegories sustain their symbolic meaning throughout an entire work.
Implied identity comparison
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
- figurativeRepresenting through imagery
- personificationAttributing humanity to non-humans
- archetypeOriginal model for copies
emblem · analogy · parable · fable · representation · icon · signifier · allusion
Supernatural beings worshipped
- heroesAdmired courageous figures
- legendsTraditional stories or icons
- mythologyBody of traditional tales
- titansDominant powerful figures
pantheon · odyssey · epic · metamorphoses · descent · underworld · creation · fall
Unit of teaching
- ethicsStudy of right conduct
- virtueMoral goodness or merit
- viceBad habit or deputy
- moralityRight and wrong principles
didactic · cautionary · wisdom · justice · prudence · righteousness · temptation · sin
Mockery exposing vice
- dystopiaImaginary terrible society
- totalitarianismState controls everything absolutely
- tyrannyOppressive, absolute governance
- propagandaBiased information for influence
oppression · revolution · swift · crucible · utopia · republic · leviathan · dissent
Sacred religious writings
- parableInstructive allegorical narrative
- gospelSacred choral tradition
- salvationDeliverance from harm
- redemptionRecovery or moral restoration
sin · grace · pilgrimage · purgatory · paradise · inferno · fall · resurrection
metaphor
Implied identity comparison
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
- figurativeRepresenting through imagery
- personificationAttributing humanity to non-humans
archetype · emblem · analogy · parable · fable · representation · icon · signifier · allusion · typology
gods
Supernatural beings worshipped
- heroesAdmired courageous figures
- legendsTraditional stories or icons
- mythologyBody of traditional tales
titans · pantheon · odyssey · epic · metamorphoses · descent · underworld · creation · fall · genesis
lesson
Unit of teaching
morality · didactic · cautionary · wisdom · justice · prudence · righteousness · temptation · sin · redemption
satire
Mockery exposing vice
- dystopiaImaginary terrible society
- totalitarianismState controls everything absolutely
- tyrannyOppressive, absolute governance
propaganda · oppression · revolution · swift · crucible · utopia · republic · leviathan · dissent · censorship
scripture
Sacred religious writings
redemption · sin · grace · pilgrimage · purgatory · paradise · inferno · fall · resurrection · covenant
- RenaissanceLeonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Mona Lisa
- Early English VerseChaucer, Spenser, Milton, Shakespeare, Donne
- literaturebooks, book, fiction, poetry, stories
- folktalesfolktales, animal fables, folktale, moral fables, fairy tales
- mythsmyth, legend, fable, fairy tale, folk tale
- paintingsoil paintings, watercolors, acrylics, tempera, gouache
allegoriesplain speech
Unembellished verbal expression
reportage · chronicles · bare facts · journalism · nonfiction
allegorieshistorical records
Preserved accounts of the past
eyewitness accounts · raw data · transcripts · depositions · court records
- allegorical taleStory representing abstract ideas
- religious allegoriesSymbolic narratives conveying faith
- allegorical novelExtended symbolic narrative work
- allegorical charactersFigures representing ideas
- allegorical literatureWriting with hidden meanings
allegorical, allegorize, allegorically, allegorized, allegorizing