Definition of the word allegory. How is allegory defined and what is it in fiction?

Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language, Dal Vladimir

allegory

and. Greek allegory, heterodoxy, foreign language, circumlocution, circumlocution, prototype; speech, picture, statue in a figurative sense; parable; a pictorial, sensual image of a thought. The entire material, sensory world is nothing more than an allegory, according to the correspondence, of the spiritual world. Allegorical, allegorical, allegorical, figurative, roundabout, circumstantial; allegorist m. allegorist.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. D.N. Ushakov

allegory

(ale), allegories, w. (Greek allegoria).

    Allegory is a visual, pictorial expression of abstract concepts through a concrete image (lit.). This poem is full of allegories.

    only units Allegory, allegorical meaning. Every fable contains some kind of... allegory.

    only plural Vague, incomprehensible speech, absurdity (colloquial). He wrung out such allegories and equivocations that, it seems, a century would not have achieved any sense. Gogol. Don’t give me allegories, but speak straight.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. S.I.Ozhegov, N.Yu.Shvedova.

allegory

And, well. (book). Allegory, expression of something. abstract, some. thoughts, ideas in a specific image. Speak in allegories (vaguely, with obscure allusions to something). || adj. allegorical, -aya, -oe. ALLEGRO (special).

    adv. About the tempo of musical performance: fast, lively.

    uncl., cf. A piece of music or part of it at that tempo.

New explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

allegory

and. A form of allegory that consists in expressing an abstract concept through a concrete image.

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

allegory

ALLEGORY (Greek allegoria - allegory) depiction of an abstract idea (concept) through an image. The meaning of an allegory, in contrast to a polysemantic symbol, is unambiguous and separated from the image; the connection between meaning and image is established by similarity (lion strength, power or royalty). As a trope, allegory is used in fables, parables, and morality tales; V fine arts expressed by certain attributes (justice - a woman with scales). Most typical for medieval art, Renaissance, mannerism, baroque, classicism.

Allegory

(Greek allēgoría ≈ allegory), a conventional representation in art of abstract ideas that are not assimilated into artistic image, but retain their independence and remain external to it. The connection between image and meaning is established in A. by analogy (for example, a lion as the personification of strength, etc.). In contrast to the polysemy of a symbol, the meaning of a symbol is characterized by an unambiguous, constant definiteness and is revealed not directly in the artistic image, but only by interpreting the explicit or hidden hints and indications contained in the image, that is, by subsuming the image under any concept (religious dogmas, moral , philosophical, scientific ideas, etc.). Since in an artistic image the universal and the particular are inseparably intertwined with each other, A. cannot exhaust the content of the image, even being an essential and necessary component of it.

The term "A." first found in treatises on oratory by Pseudo-Longinus and Cicero. Medieval aesthetics saw in art one of the four meanings that a work of art has: allegorical meaning, along with grammatical (literal), moral, and anagogical (educational). As a specific form of artistic image, A. was examined in detail in German aesthetics of the 18th and early 19th centuries. (Winkelmann, Goethe, Schelling, Hegel, Solger, Schopenhauer, etc.).

In literature, many allegorical images are taken from mythology and folklore. A fable, a morality play, a parable, as well as many works of medieval eastern poetry are based on A.; It is also found in other genres (“Three Keys” by A. S. Pushkin, fairy tales by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin). In the middle of the 19th century. the concept of art is narrowed to an artistic device. See Trope.

In the visual arts, A. (figures with constant attributes, figured groups and compositions personifying any concepts) constitutes special genre, the features of which are already noticeable in ancient mythological images. A. virtues, vices, etc., common in the Middle Ages, are filled with humanistic content in the Renaissance. Artwork becomes especially complex and sophisticated in the art of Mannerism, Baroque, and Rococo. Classicism and academicism considered art as part of the “high” historical genre. IN contemporary art A. gives way to those who are more developed in figurative and psychological terms symbolic images(see Symbol).

Lit.: Losev A.F., Shestakov V.P., History of aesthetic categories, [M.], 1965, p. 237 ≈ 57; Sgrensen V. A., Symbol und Symbolismus in den asthetischen Theorien des XVIII. Jahrhunderts und der deutschen Romantik, Kbh., 1963.

Wikipedia

Allegory (group)

"Allegory"- Russian folk-rock band from Minusinsk (Krasnoyarsk Territory). Founded on February 16, 2003.

The Allegory group plays acoustic and electroacoustic music in the folk rock style. Instruments: kalyuka, zhaleika, recorder, hobrach, didgeridoo, conga, bongo, djembe, tambourine, acoustic guitar, drum set, electric guitar, bass guitar. The group was organized by a group of people interested in the history and life of the ancient Slavs, who had previously taken a direct part in organizing many role-playing games of historical modeling dedicated to the pre-Christian era, as a result of which the musical style of the group and the direction of its further creative activity were chosen. Over time, the group's style has transformed into a fusion of ethnic music from different cultures and modern styles.

Allegory (disambiguation)

Allegory:

  • Allegory is a conventional depiction of abstract ideas through a specific artistic image or dialogue.
  • Allegory is a Russian folk rock band from Minusinsk, Krasnoyarsk region.

Allegory

Allegory(from - allegory) - artistic representation of ideas (concepts) through a specific artistic image or dialogue.

Allegory is used as a trope in poetry, parables, and morality. It arose on the basis of mythology, was reflected in folklore and was developed in the fine arts. The main way to depict an allegory is to generalize human concepts; ideas are revealed in the images and behavior of animals, plants, mythological and fairy tale characters, inanimate objects that receive figurative meaning.

Example: justice - Themis.

Allegory is the artistic isolation of concepts using specific representations. Religion, love, soul, justice, discord, glory, war, peace, spring, summer, autumn, winter, death, etc. are depicted and presented as living beings. The qualities and appearance attached to these living beings are borrowed from the actions and consequences of what corresponds to the isolation contained in these concepts; for example, the isolation of battle and war is indicated by means of military weapons, seasons - by means of their corresponding flowers, fruits or activities, impartiality - by means of scales and a blindfold, death - by means of a clepsydra and a scythe.

Obviously, allegory lacks the full plastic brightness and completeness of artistic creations, in which the concept and image completely coincide with each other and are produced inseparably by creative imagination, as if fused by nature. The allegory oscillates between a concept derived from reflection and its cunningly invented individual shell and, as a result of this half-heartedness, remains cold.

Allegory, corresponding to the rich imagery of the way of representing the Eastern peoples, occupies a prominent place in the art of the East. On the contrary, it is alien to the Greeks, given the wonderful ideality of their gods, understood and imagined in the form of living personalities. Allegory appears here only in Alexandrian times, when the natural formation of myths ceased and the influence of Eastern ideas became noticeable. Its dominance is more noticeable in Rome. But it dominated most of all the poetry and art of the Middle Ages from the end of the 13th century, at a time of ferment when the naive life of fantasy and the results of scholastic thinking mutually touch and, as far as possible, try to penetrate each other. So - with most troubadours, with Wolfram von Eschenbach, with Dante. Feuerdank, a 16th-century Greek poem describing the life of Emperor Maximilian, may serve as an example of allegorical-epic poetry.

Allegory has a special use in animal epic. It is very natural that the various arts consist essentially various relationships to an allegory. The hardest thing is to avoid it modern sculpture. Always doomed to depict the individual, it is often forced to give as allegorical isolation what Greek sculpture could give in the form of individual and full image life of god.

For example, John Bunyan’s novel “The Pilgrim’s Progress to the Heavenly Land” and Vladimir Vysotsky’s song “Truth and Lies” are written in the form of an allegory.

Examples of the use of the word allegory in literature.

In the space between them is an engraved portrait of Richard Cobden, enlarged photographs of Martineau, Huxley and George Eliot, autotypes allegories J.

With all the traditional obligatory theological orientation of auto as specific genre allegories Calderon is much deeper and more philosophical than his predecessors, and the characters depicted in them are much more humane.

An attempt to revive auto as a special genre of dramatic allegories- of course, without religious basis, - built on modern content, were undertaken by such major writers of our time as Rafael Alberti and Miguel Hernandez.

However, unlike the poets of the Middle Ages allegory for Herbert is not a way of seeing the world, but poetic device, which he needed to create the necessary effect in the spirit of Baroque art.

Now she was busy allegory John Bunyan and, forgetting about everything else, talked about her incessantly.

And when the poet writes about white dew that will become frost by morning, this is also about the transience of life, for since ancient times human life has been compared to a dew melting from a ray of sun, and white frost - allegory gray hair.

Serpent and Woman, is allegory the enmity between the sin associated with the worldly laws, or serpent, and the obedience of faith embodied in the church of the Lord, which is the woman.

But just now he was attached to the tavern for a long time, breaking such allegories and remarks that, it seems, a century would not have achieved any sense.

The offer received from the Berlin intendant Iffland to write an apotheosis for the return of the Prussian king seemed so honorable and tempting to him that he temporarily abandoned all other poetic ideas in order to compose his own bizarrely meaningful, deeply personal philosophical apotheosis, unlike any other apotheosis in the world. allegory.

It is evidenced by those barely noticeable magical touches with which the artist transforms wandering plot into cabalistic allegory.

Are you really of the opinion that Homer, when he wrote the Iliad and Odyssey, was thinking about those allegories, which were attributed to him by Plutarch, Heraclides Pontius, Eustathius, Cornutus and which Poliziano subsequently stole from them?

If you want, let's try to enrich this unsuccessful allegory another example.

Makovsky equally passionately painted a landscape or a genre scene, a portrait of a scientist or a kept woman of the nouveau riche, he admired the patterns ancient life, painted a Bacchic panel in the spirit of Tiepolo, the heads of beauties, allegories and decorations, agreed to paint screens for bedrooms, inventing decorations for the palanquin of an infirm aristocrat - and he did all this not somehow, not by the way, but with the same brilliance!

However, this allegory is far from perfect, and through it I was just going to demonstrate how individual streams and channels of heresies and all kinds of renewal movements, when the river no longer holds them in itself, multiply immensely and multiply and intertwine many times.

Allegory is one of the techniques of allegory. It expresses in a concrete image an abstract idea, a concept (wisdom, love, fidelity, wisdom, goodness, etc.). An allegory, unlike a symbol, can have only one, specific interpretation. Thus, in the European cultural tradition, the cross is understood as an allegory of faith, the lion is an allegory of power, the heart is an allegory of love, etc.

Many allegorical images have mythological origins. For example, ancient greek goddess Themis acts as an allegory of justice, and the Roman Fortune is an allegory of happiness.

This technique is often used in parables and fables, where the wolf allegorically depicts greed, the fox - cunning, etc.

In addition to well-known allegories, there are also author’s ones. These include images of things from V. Mayakovsky’s “Mystery-Buffe”: Sickle, Hammer, Needle, Saw, etc. As one of the methods of allegorizing heroes, the authors use “speaking” names and surnames: secretary Molchalin for A. Griboyedov, judge Lyapkin -Tyapkin by N. Gogol, mayor Negodyaev in the city of Glupov by M. Saltykov-Shchedrin, “chief commander” Pobedonosikov by V. Mayakovsky, etc.

(Source: Schoolchildren's Handbook: grades 5-11. - M.: AST-PRESS, 2000)

Unlike the grotesque, allegory and symbol do not deform the real appearance of reality (unless, of course, we take into account the animalistic allegory of the fable). And if we still classify them as conventional forms, it is primarily because we have two-plane images in front of us, offering us certain conditions to understand the need to move to another dimension of meaning. The essence here is not contained directly in the phenomenon, as is the case with things and processes of the real world. In symbol and allegory, it seems to be hidden behind the phenomenon, hidden “on the other side” of it. Symbol and allegory presuppose the existence of two semantic series: the one contained in the image, and the one to which it hints. The coexistence of the depicted and the implied is what unites these conventional structures.
What separates them? The allegory quite clearly and directly hints at the second wide plan of the image. It hints verbally: the second dimension of its meaning is suggested to the reader either in the form of a fable maxim, or in the form of a decoding title (“The Cart of Life” by Pushkin), or directly in the text (“The key of youth, the key is fast and rebellious”, “And the third key - cold key oblivion" - in Pushkin).

Allegory by Krylov

However, the degree of persistence of the allegorical allusion varies. The fable allegory that resorts to maxims most steadily and consistently transfers thought into the background of the image. In the pre-Krylov fable, it is assigned to the author’s word and appears, as a rule, in the finale. But Krylov is already rebuilding and diversifying the forms of its implementation. Often she reveals to him a quickly thrown aphorism, a clot folk wisdom. Such an aphorism not only ends, but sometimes even opens the fable text (“The strong are always to blame for the powerless,” etc.). Sometimes maxims are put into the mouths of fable characters, imbued with the naturalness of living things. spoken word, addressed to the interlocutor. The meaning of Krylov’s moral teaching is often narrower than the figurative picture that unfolds in the fable plot. And the images of Krylov’s characters contain possibilities of meaning that are not blocked by fable sentiment. Not blocked, if only because along with them the unique Russian way of life, manifestations of Russian morals enter into the world of Krylov’s fable, and all this no longer fits into the faceless universality of moral teaching.
In general, the less persistently and straightforwardly an allegorical image strives to decipher its meaning, the more full-blooded the image, the more lively the allegorical picture. To be convinced of this, it is enough to compare, for example, Baratynsky’s “The Road of Life” and Pushkin’s “The Cart of Life.”

Allegory in "The Road of Life" by Baratynsky

Baratynsky’s lyrical miniature, literally from line to line, accumulates in its composition details that point to the second allegorical plane of the image: “the road of life”, “good fate”, “postal years”, “pathways of life”. All these are metaphors in which the conjugation of two plans is so obvious that we do not for a moment lose the feeling of how dependent the first “road” layer of the image is here. Only the line “they take you from the tavern to the tavern” falls out of the metaphorical context. However, even that is only partly. The context deciphers its meaning, and it becomes clear to us that Baratynsky’s “taverns” are a designation of stages human existence. In general, Baratynsky’s poetic image balances on the line between allegory and extended metaphor, so frank are the connections between two spheres of life (objective and psychological).

Allegory in Pushkin's "Cart of Life"

Compared to Baratynsky’s “The Road of Life,” in Pushkin’s “The Cart of Life,” the subject-plot layer of the image is widely deployed. What Baratynsky casts fleetingly (the image of the stages of human existence), in Pushkin receives a wide compositional turn.
The entire poem is perceived as an allegory of the three ages of human life: youth, maturity and old age. Hints at the second, allegorical meaning of the image are scattered more sparingly here; they are only in the title of the poem and in the image of time: “dashing coachman - gray time.” But the main thing is that Pushkin’s picture of the road journey is enriched with such details that give it a certain pictorial autonomy. It is entertaining in itself, if only because of the change in the very real, psychologically accurate moods of the traveler. First, the liveliest curiosity, the joy of movement and the readiness to boldly face all the hardships of the journey; then a decline in interest and the appearance of a feeling of inconvenience of the journey and, finally, indifference and habit, extinguishing the sharpness and freshness of impressions. Pushkin's allegory bears the imprint of a daring poetic simplicity and comic grace for those times, which, however, does not obscure the dramatic seriousness of its meaning. The conversational intonation and abundance of prosaism only strengthen this impression.
A different speech pattern of thought is characteristic of Baratynsky’s allegory. Its romantically elevated style (“golden dreams,” “good fate,” “madmen”) prompts one to recall the traditionally refined vocabulary of Russian elegiac lyrics of the early 19th century.

Allegory in the poem "Tavern of Life" by Annensky

Sometimes an allegorical allusion appears in a work as a sharp semantic surprise. Until we stumble upon it, we tend to perceive what is depicted in a life-like, rather than conventional, way. This is the poem by Innokenty Annensky, “The Tavern of Life.”
The last word of this poem, “undertaker,” sharply shifts the semantic relationships of all details. At first we see a colorful image of a tavern, perceived through the eye of a regular. And only having risen to the top of the last, “key” word, we see how in a single moment the curtain seems to fall from the trivial masquerade of life before our eyes. The second, tragically deep meaning of the image is revealed, and all its specifics begin to sound in a new way. And the attributes of a tavern feast with its naked prosaicness, and the ominous grimace of boredom, emerging through the feverish thirst for oblivion, and the dull repetition of the life ritual, designed only to distract the thought from the menacing and dark underbelly of existence - everything here takes on special meaning in the light of the final truth about fatal proximity of death. Death is always nearby, always on guard and ready to blow on the melted candle stub.

Allegorical image of China

Beyond the fable, in which allegory is organic insofar as here it grows into the genre principle of the image, beyond these limits, allegory in poetry always carries with it a certain risk and threat to rationality. Therefore, in the 19th century, allegory reminds itself less and less often in poetry, gravitating, rather, to prose, to its satirical genres. Here it is used as a way to easily encrypt meaning and as a form of artistic “defamiliarization.” And in both qualities in satire and in criticism of XIX centuries, for example, they have used the allegorical image of China. Allowing us to slightly veil the picture of Russian morals (however, in such a way that the meaning of the image was quite accessible to the “initiates”), this allegory with all its “Chinese” attributes, defensing the perception of Russian reality, created a comic effect. Chinese traditionalism was perceived by Russian progressives (Belinsky, for example) as an exaggerated form of social immobility, and the notorious Chinese mandarins - as a caricatured embodiment of despotism. Of course, all this was more a myth than a reality, but a myth that was convenient to use for harsh criticism of the “ulcers of Russian reality.” A. K. Tolstoy picks up the allegorical semantics of China with masterly comic timing.
The example of the allegorical use of “Chinese” semantics proves that allegory in poetry (and in prose too) is not always individual in its artistic origin. It is sometimes borrowed from the arsenal of tradition, but, picked up by a major artistic individual, it naturally acquires a unique artistic turn.

Allegorical image of the sea

Such, for example, is the traditional image of traveling by sea (of course, this is the sea of ​​life, or the sea of ​​troubles, or, finally, the sea of ​​fate) with all its set of plot motifs: a storm, a shipwreck, a desired harbor. These motives can be presented in complete set or with cutting off any links. But in any case, the reader’s perception, accustomed to the allegorical parallel “sea” - “life,” easily penetrates into the second semantic plane of the image. The traditional allegorism of this correlation, apparently, made it easier for the reader to interpret the plot of Pushkin’s poem “Arion” (a plot based on ancient myth about Arion) in the light of the author's fate, despite the absence of any obvious allegorical allusions.
An allegorical image can be placed at the center of a fairly extensive prose narrative. And then it becomes its focus, the focus, absorbing the plot and semantic lines of the whole. Such an image sometimes borders on symbolism, but differs from a symbol in transparency and definiteness of meaning. This is the allegory of the “red flower” in the story “Red Flower” by V. M. Garshin.

Allegory by Garshin and Novalis

The context of the story leaves no doubt that this is an allegorical image of evil. The breadth of its semantic horizons and its philosophical nature make it similar to a symbol. But there is no hidden shimmer of meaning and a sense of captivating depth generated by the symbol in Garshin’s image. For this to become quite obvious, it is enough to compare it with the symbolism of the “blue flower” in the novel “Heinrich von Ofterdingen” by the outstanding German romantic Novalis. Novalis contains enormous conjugating energy in this image; he leaves many reflections in the structure of the novel, connecting first of all its two spheres, two worlds - prosaic and poetic, real and ideal. It reflects both Novalis’s utopian dream of the possibility of a total “romanticization” of life, and his perception of the fairy tale as the universal beginning of poetry. “Blue Flower” is the embodiment of the elusive and inexplicable poetry of existence, scattered in the world and now, as it were, gathered in a single “object”. This is also a symbol of the magically elusive soul of Matilda, and which for Henry concentrated all the charm of the world, for this soul is nothing more than an emanation “ eternal femininity" It is not without reason that at the end of the novel she seems to be reborn in a new incarnation (according to the law of metempsychosis) in the guise of a young creature who reminds Henry of his deceased beloved.

Ushakov's Dictionary

Allegory

allegory[ale], allegories, wives (Greek allegory).

1. Allegory, visual, pictorial expression of abstract concepts through a concrete image ( lit.). This poem is full of allegories.

2. only units Allegorical meaning, allegorical meaning. Every fable contains some kind of allegory.

3. only pl. Vague, incomprehensible speech, absurdity ( simple). “I wrung out such allegories and equivocations that, it seems, a century would not have made any sense.” Gogol. Don’t give me allegories, but speak straight.

Pedagogical speech science. Dictionary-Directory

Allegory

(Greek allegoria - allegory) - a trope (see tropes), consisting in an allegorical depiction of an abstract concept or thought using a specific life image. For example, in fables and fairy tales, cunning is shown in the form of a fox, greed in the form of a wolf, cunning in the form of a snake, etc. A. is based on the convergence of phenomena according to the correlation of their essential aspects, qualities or functions and belongs to the group of metaphorical tropes. A. should not be confused with a symbol; the latter is more polysemantic and lacks the precision and certainty of an allegorical image.

A.'s strength lies in the fact that she is capable of personifying humanity's concepts of justice, good, evil, and various moral qualities for many centuries. The goddess Themis, whom Greek and Roman sculptors depicted blindfolded and wearing scales, has forever remained the embodiment of justice. Snake and cup - A. healing, medicine. The biblical saying: “Let us beat swords into plowshares” is an allegorical call for peace, for the end of wars. Many A. owe their origin to ancient customs, cultural traditions (cf. coats of arms, emblems), folklore - mainly tales about animals, Greek and Roman mythology, the Bible, etc.

Most often, A. are found in the visual arts (for example, the fresco “The Fight of Foxes and Dogs” in Florence, depicting the struggle of the church with heretics). Verbal arithmetic is common in riddles (for example, A sieve hangs, not twisted with your hands (a web), proverbs (for example, Every sandpiper praises its swamp), fables (“The Oak and the Reed” by Lafontaine, “The Cobblestone and the Diamond” by I.A. Krylov), parables (almost all the parables with which Jesus Christ addresses his disciples are based on A., for example, the parable of prodigal son, parable of talents, etc.), morality play (edifying drama of Western European theater of the 14th-16th centuries). Main actors The morality play consisted of characters who personified various virtues and vices and entered into a struggle among themselves for the soul of a person (the play “The Prudent and the Foolish,” 1439, etc.). Individual allegorical figures have been preserved in the plays of M. Cervantes (“Numancia”) and W. Shakespeare (“ Winter's Tale"). A. is most characteristic of medieval art, Renaissance art, Baroque, and classicism.

In foreign realistic literature Many works have an allegorical, allegorical character. Thus, “Penguin Island” by A. France is a philosophical and allegorical novel in which the writer traces the main stages of the development of bourgeois civilization. The characters of the novel - penguins - are the personification of human unreason. Stupidity, hypocrisy, and religious prejudices are their constant companions. Allegorical imagery underlies “War with the Newts” by K. Capek, one of the first anti-fascist novels in foreign literature.

In Russian classical literature, A. was a common technique in satirical works M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, in the works of A.S. Griboyedova, N.V. Gogol (for example, allegorical names of such characters as Skalozub, Molchalin, Sobakevich).

A. is widespread in poetic language, where figurative meanings of words and phrases, often unusual and new, are used as an artistic device and give speech special expressiveness and various shades of meaning.

A distinction is made between general language and individual authorship.

General linguistic arithmetic is known not only in Russian, but also in other modern and ancient languages. Thus, deceit appears in the image of a snake, power - in the image of a lion, slowness - in the image of a turtle, etc. Any allegorical expression can be called A. For example, autumn has come can mean: old age has set in, the flowers have faded - the happy days are over, the train has left - there is no return to the past, etc. Such A. are also of a general linguistic nature, since their meaning is determined by the tradition of their use in speech.

Individual author's A.: for example, in the poetry of A.S. Pushkin A. is the basis of the figurative system of poems “Arion”, “Anchar”, “Prophet”, “Nightingale and Rose”, etc. In M.Yu. Lermontov’s allegorical meaning is contained in the poems “Pine”, “Three Palms”, etc.

M.V. Lomonosov in his book “A Brief Guide to Eloquence” (1748) divided A. into “pure”, consisting only of words with a figurative meaning (for example, all riddles, proverbs like One in the field is not a warrior, The beast runs to the catcher, etc.) , and “mixed”, built on mixing words with a direct meaning and words with a figurative meaning (proverbs like Either a clump of hay, or a pitchfork in the side, Or in a stirrup with your foot, or in a stump with your head, Or your chest in crosses, or your head in the bushes and etc.).

M.V. Lomonosov warned: “Many people take excessive delight in allegorical style and use this trope too often, and especially those who do not know the true beauty of the word, but are seduced by its feigned appearance. Allegory used in moderation decorates and elevates the word, but without measure it is often introduced into the word and darkens and disfigures it. However, sometimes it serves to arouse fear, and in this case it is like night, for the hidden is more frightening than the obvious.”

L.E. Tumina

Allegory

(Greek allegoria - allegory). A trope consisting in an allegorical depiction of an abstract concept using a concrete, life-like image. For example, in fables and fairy tales, cunning is shown in the form of a fox, greed in the form of a wolf, deceit in the form of a snake, etc.

Culturology. Dictionary-reference book

Allegory

(Greek- allegory), a conventional form of utterance in which a visual image means something “other” than it itself; its content remains external to it, being unambiguously assigned to it by cultural tradition or the author’s will. The concept of A. is close to the concept of a symbol, however, unlike A., a symbol is characterized by greater polysemy and a more organic unity of image and content, while the meaning of A. exists in the form of a kind of rational formula independent of the image, which can be “embedded” in the image and then, in the act of deciphering, extract from it. E.g. blindfold female figure and the scales in her hands are in the European tradition of A. justice; it is important that the carriers of meaning (“justice does not look at faces and gives everyone their due measure”) are precisely the attributes of the figure, and not its own integral appearance, which would be characteristic of a symbol. Therefore, they often talk about A. in relation to a chain of images united into a plot or into another “collapsible” unity that can be divided; for example, if travel is a frequent symbol of the spiritual “path,” then the journey of the hero of J. Bunyan’s religious and moralistic novel “The Pilgrim’s Progress” (“The Pilgrim’s Progress”, 1678-84, in Russian translation “The Pilgrim’s Progress”, 1878), which goes through the “fair of Vanity”, “hill of Difficulty” and “valley of Humiliation” to the “Heavenly City” - indisputable A.A. in the forms of personification, parable and fable is characteristic of the archaic verbal art as an expression of pre-philosophical “wisdom” in its everyday, priestly, oracular-prophetic and poetic versions. Although myth is different from A., on the periphery it systematically turns into it. Greek philosophy is born in a sharp rejection of the wisdom of myth and the wisdom of poets (cf. attacks against Homer, Hesiod and mythology as such from Xenophanes and Heraclitus to Plato); since, however, the mythological plots and poems of Homer occupied too important a place in all Greek life, and their prestige could only be shaken, but not destroyed, the only way out was an allegorical interpretation, the so-called. allegoresis, which brought to myth and poetry the meaning that a philosophically oriented interpreter needed. Already for Theagenes of Rhegium at the end of the 6th century. before i. e. Homer is the victim of a regrettable misunderstanding: the quarrels and battles of the gods he describes are frivolous if we take them literally, but everything falls into place if we decipher in them the teaching of Ionian natural philosophy about the struggle of the elements (Hera - A. air, Hephaestus - A. fire, Apollo - A. sun, etc., see Porph. Quaest. Homer. I, 241). For Metrodorus of Lampsacus at the end of the 5th century. BC e. Homer's plots are an allegorical fixation of several meanings at once: in the natural philosophical plane, Achilles is the sun, Hector is the moon, Helen is the earth, Paris is the air, Agamemnon is the ether; in terms of "microcosm" human body Demeter - liver, Dionysus - spleen, Apollo - bile, etc. At the same time, Anaxagoras, using the same techniques, extracted from Homer’s poem the ethical doctrine “of virtue and justice” (Diog. L. II, 11); this line was continued by Antisthenes, the Cynics and Stoics, who interpreted the images of myth and epic as the philosophical ideal of victory over passions. The image of Hercules, who was chosen by Prodicus as the hero of the moralistic A. (the motif of “Hercules at the Crossroads” - the theme of the choice between Pleasure and Virtue), underwent a particularly energetic rethinking. The search for A. as the “true” meaning of the image could be served by a more or less arbitrary etymology aimed at clarifying the “true” meaning of the name; this procedure (partly parodying the running techniques of the sophists) is carried out in Plato’s “Cratylus” (for example, 407AB: since “Athena embodies the mind and thought itself,” her name is interpreted as “god-thought” or “moral-thought”). The taste for A. spreads everywhere; Although the Epicureans in principle rejected the allegorical interpretation of myths, this did not prevent Lucretius from explaining the torment of sinners in Hades as A. psychological states.

The same approach to traditional subjects and authoritative texts has been widely applied to the Bible since the time of Philo of Alexandria. Philo was followed by Christian thinkers - Origen, exegetes of the Alexandrian school, Gregory of Nyssa, Ambrose of Milan and many others. Only through A. could faith in Revelation and the skills of Platonic speculation be combined into unified system. A. played an important role in Christian exegesis: the doctrine of the Old and New Testaments as two hierarchically unequal stages of Revelation suggested t. typology - a look at Old Testament events as A. New Testament ones, their allegorical anticipation (“transformation”). In the medieval West, a doctrine was formed according to which biblical text has four meanings: literal, or historical (for example, the exodus from Egypt), typological (indicating the redemption of people by Christ), moral (exhortation to leave all carnal things) and anagogical, i.e. mystical-eschatological (hinting at the arrival in bliss future life). The Renaissance maintains the cult of A., connecting it with attempts to see behind the diversity of religions a single meaning, accessible only to initiates: among humanists, who very widely use the names of pagan gods and goddesses such as A. Christ and the Virgin Mary, these and other traditional Christian images can in turn be interpreted as A., hinting at this meaning (Mutianus Rufus, Der Briefwechsel, Kassel, 1885, S. 28). Renaissance philosophers love to refer to the ancient mysteries (cf. Wind E., Pagan mysteries in the Renaissance, L, 1968) and strive, as Ficino says, “to cover the divine mysteries everywhere with a veil of allegory” (In Parm., prooem.). Baroque culture gives A. the specific character of an emblem (SchoneA., Emblematik und Drama im Zeitalter des Barock, Miinchen, 1964), emphasizing the mysteriousness of A., which was already important for the Renaissance. For the Enlightenment, the didactic clarity and interpretation of A., turned into a kind of visual aid (philosophical Voltaire's tales, Lessing's fables, etc.) - in principle, as it was among the ancient Cynics and repeated in the 20th century. in the work and aesthetics of Brecht (allegorization of life as its exposure, demystification, reduction to the simplest processes).

The role of A. in the history of thought thus has two aspects. Firstly, the search for A. is the only possible conscious attitude of reflection in the face of the heritage of mythopoetic thinking and the epic (in Europe - Homeric) tradition up to the discovery of the intrinsic value and self-legitimacy of the archaic. This discovery is planned only in the 18th century. (Vico, iredromanticism) and was widely recognized in the 19th century. (romanticism, Hegelian historicism, etc.). Secondly, the history of culture knows at all times the outgoing and returning waves of gravity towards art, associated with the educational, didactic and revelatory attitude of thought in the face of reality.

Sergey Averintsev.

Sophia-Logos. Dictionary

Catholic Encyclopedia

Allegory

(Greekάλληγορία - allegory), in exegesis - a method of interpreting the texts of Holy Scripture that goes beyond their literal understanding.

The allegorical method of interpreting texts originated in Ancient Greece in the philosophy of the Pre-Socratics, who denied a literal understanding of mythology, and reached its peak in the Stoics’ commentaries on the poems of Homer and Hesiod. Ignoring the source. context of these works, commentators saw in their heroes personifications of physical or mental phenomena, and their episodes were interpreted as allegorical presentations of later philosophies. concepts. In the writings of Philo of Alexandria, A. is widely used in the interpretation of the books of the Old Testament (the events of sacred history are reinterpreted as the vicissitudes of the life of the soul striving to know itself and God). According to Philo, A. was not the property of only pagan philosophy, but was also practiced in the rabbinical schools of Palestine. NT authors often interpret quotations from the OT allegorically. The word A. itself occurs in Gal 4:24, where Hagar and Sarah mean Israel and the Church.

The tradition of allegorical interpretation of the texts of the NT and OT was developed by representatives of the Alexandrian theological school (Clement of Alexandria, Origen, etc.). Origen mainly followed Philo's concept; he spoke about three meanings of Scripture: bodily, or literally-historical, spiritual, or moral-edifying, and spiritual, i.e. allegorical. Origen pointed to A. as the most adequate way of interpreting Scripture.

The attitude of representatives of various theologians. schools to the allegorical method was ambiguous. Thus, Irenaeus of Lyons associated A. with the heretical teachings of the Gnostics, who, in his opinion, resort to it because they do not understand the true meaning of Scripture or have the intention of distorting it. The validity of the allegorical understanding of the Bible. texts became the subject of a long controversy between the Alexandrian and Antiochene exegetical schools, which began in the 4th century. speech of Eustathius of Antioch against the extreme allegorism of Origen.

The history of exegesis knows many cases of interpreters combining the allegorical method with other methods of interpreting Scripture. Thus, in his commentary on the Song of Songs, Ambrose of Milan says that the image of the Bride symbolizes both the Church of Christ (in this case a typological connection is established) and humanity. soul with its desire for the Bridegroom-Christ (classical A.). In the works of Augustine, whose exegetical concept was formed under the influence of the sermons of Ambrose, A. is also used along with other exegetical techniques. Late Antique and Middle Ages. the authors (starting with Hilary of Pictavia, John Cassian, Rufinus of Aquileia) accepted Origen's classification of the 3 meanings of Scripture and identified the spirit within. meaning of 2 aspects - A. itself and anagogy (from Greekάναγωγή - ascent). This is how the concept of 4 levels of literal meaning of Scripture was formed, i.e. the direct meaning of the text (the basis for all other meanings); allegorical, when some events are considered as symbols of other events (for example, the images of the Old Testament refer to the life of Jesus Christ); moral, which concerns the life of every Christian; anagogical, which refers to eschatological or eternal realities (cf. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae I a 1, 10; Dante, Symposium II, 1) This scheme is expressed in the famous couplet of Nicholas of Lyra (c. 1336): “Littera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria, moralis quid agas, quo tendas anagogia" (“The letter teaches facts; allegory teaches what to believe; morality teaches what to do; what to strive for, anagogy teaches”).

Protest. exegetical concept, main. the principle of which is to understand Scripture “from Scripture itself,” denies the allegorical method. The tradition of the Catholic Church allows for the fundamental possibility of an allegorical interpretation of Scripture even in the present day. time.

Liter: Bychkov V.V. Aesthetic Patrum. M., 1995, p. 35–52, 215–251; Nesterova O.E. Typological exegesis: Controversy over method // Alpha and Omega 4 (1998), 62–77; Writings of ancient Christian apologists / Ed. A.G. Dunaeva. St. Petersburg, 1999, p. 463–480; Grant R.M. The Letter and the Spirit. L., 1957; PОpin J. Mythe et allОgorie: Les origines grecques et les contestations judОo-chrОtiennes. P., 1958; Formen und Funktionen der Allegorie / Hrsg. W. Haug. Stuttgart, 1979.

Yu. Ivanova

Dictionary of linguistic terms

Allegory

(Old Greek άλληγορία).

allegory; expression of an abstract concept through an image. A. is used as a trope in fables, parables, and morality tales. IN last decade intensified in journalistic style, where she moved from oral public speech; The “popularity” of A. as a trope in modern journalism is due to the fact that A. represents such a “way of narration in which the literal meaning of the entire text serves to indicate the figurative one, the transmission of which is the true purpose of the narration” [Culture of Speech, 2001 , P.272].

Terminological dictionary-thesaurus on literary criticism

Allegory

(Greek allegoria - allegory) - the disclosure of an abstract idea (concept) through a concrete image of an object or phenomenon of reality. In contrast to the polysemantic meaning of a symbol, the meaning of an allegory is unambiguous and separated from the image; the connection between meaning and image is established by analogy or contiguity.

RB: language. Visual and expressive means

Genus: trails

Genre: fable, parable, fairy tale

Ass: symbol

Example: In fables and fairy tales, cunning is depicted in the form of a fox, greed in the form of a wolf, deceit in the form of a snake, etc.

* “Many allegories owe their origin to ancient customs, cultural traditions (cf. coats of arms, emblems), folklore - mainly fairy tales about animals (the fox is an allegory of cunning, the wolf - malice and greed, etc.)” (L.I. Lebedev).

“Each time a poetic image is perceived and enlivened by the understander, it tells him something different and greater than what is directly contained in it. Thus, poetry is always an allegory, an allegory in the broad sense of the word” (A.A. Potebnya ). *

Dictionary of forgotten and difficult words of the 18th-19th centuries

Allegory

, And , and.

Allegory, fiction.

* But I spent a long time hanging out in the tavern just now, making such allegories and jokes. // Gogol. Inspector //; How did I come up with such an allegory, and it wasn’t necessary at all!// Chernyshevsky. What to do // *

Gasparov. Records and extracts

Allegory

♦ S.A.: symbol and allegory are similar to a word and a phrase, an image and a plot: the first blooms with a whole set of dictionary meanings, the second is contextually unambiguous, like a shaft cut from this flowering trunk.

Philosophical Dictionary (Comte-Sponville)

Allegory

Allegory

♦ Allegory

Expressing an idea through an image or oral narrative. Allegory is the opposite of abstraction; it is a kind of thought that has taken on flesh. From a philosophical point of view, an allegory cannot serve as proof of anything. And, with the exception of Plato, not a single philosopher has been able to use allegory without seeming ridiculous.

Design. Glossary of terms

Allegory

ALLEGORY (Greek allegoria - allegory)– depiction of an abstract idea (concept) through an image. The meaning of an allegory, in contrast to a polysemantic symbol, is unambiguous and separated from the image; the connection between meaning and image is established by similarity (lion - strength, power or royalty). As a trope, allegory is used in fables, parables, and morality tales; in the fine arts it is expressed by certain attributes (justice - a woman with scales). Most characteristic of medieval art, Renaissance, mannerism, baroque, classicism.

Aesthetics. encyclopedic Dictionary

Allegory

(Greek allegory- allegory)

a rhetorical figure of allegory, consisting in the verbal or pictorial use of a specific image for a more vivid, intelligible, impressive expression or explanation of an abstract idea, an abstract, speculative principle. Allegory allows us to discover and bring to the fore hidden meaning or an idea that is not obvious due to its special complexity through indirect description. Masters of eloquence are able to create whole garlands of allegories when interpreting ancient epic, religious, philosophical and artistic texts. Thus, in ancient culture allegorical interpretations of ancient myths and the poems of Homer and Hesiod were common.

In an allegory, the emotional, figurative, pictorial principle balances the rational, abstract and speculative principle. Directed towards each other, they mutually highlight certain meaningful facets in each other and reveal a certain new integrity, where the efforts of the senses and mind are combined into a single vector of aesthetic perception and the accompanying process of understanding. The allegorical principle has become entrenched in such genres as parable, fable, fantastic utopia, and dystopia.

The allegorical method is used in interpreting the Bible to rationally clarify its content. It is most often advisable in cases where the literal interpretation of a certain content-semantic fragment seems inappropriate for some reason. The advantage of allegorical interpretations is that they allow us to discern new, additional meaningful facets and implicit semantic shades in biblical ideas and images. Thanks to them, the literal meaning can not only expand and deepen, but also transform. But here a serious danger awaits interpreters: you can, unnoticed by yourself, cross the boundary that is permitted by the content of the text. And then a false interpretation may arise, which does not bring closer, but leads away from the understanding of the true biblical meanings.

The advantage of the allegorical method is that it allows us to move away from naive literalism in the interpretation of multifaceted biblical truths and images. This method was used in the interpretation of the Old and New Testaments by Philo of Alexandria, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and other theologians. Thus, Philo of Alexandria saw in the Old Testament history evidence of the wanderings of the human soul, trying to comprehend God, His plans and understand itself. Origen identified three ways of interpreting the Bible - literal, moralistic and spiritually allegorical. At the same time, he considered the latter method the most suitable to the peculiarities Holy Scripture.

Irenaeus of Lyons looked at the allegorical method from a different angle and saw in it a negative principle, allowing the enemies of the Church to distort the true meanings of the Holy Scriptures, and for those who are far from their true understanding to cover up their misunderstanding with colorful images.

IN medieval literature allegory was used quite widely as an artistic device. A typical example is Prudentius' poem " Psychomachia"(late IV - early V centuries), painting pictures of battles between Virtues and Vices. In the 12th century. allegorical poems by Bernard Sylvester (“ On the universality of the world, or Cosmography") and Alan Lille (" Against Claudius"). In the 13th century an allegorical " Romance of Rose"Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Men.

In the field of painting, artists who needed to depict the meanings of the indescribable sayings of Jesus Christ came to the aid of the allegorical method. As a result, visual images appeared that corresponded, for example, to the commandments of the Sermon on the Mount, including “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44), etc. In Germany during the Reformation, allegorical engravings called “The Mill of God” were widespread. They depicted God the Father seated on the clouds, and below Jesus Christ in the form of a miller pouring four evangelists into a mill funnel. There was also an inscription: “The mill stood idle for a long time, as if the miller had died.” The purely Protestant meaning of the allegory was obvious: Catholic Church did not fulfill its purpose, but now through Christ, the evangelists, through the entire New Testament, the path to the truth has opened.

In the XV-XVI centuries. in England and France, in line with allegorical aesthetics, independent genre didactic drama - morality. Allegorical characters representing sins and virtues appeared before the viewer. Scenes of struggle to strangle the hero were played out between them. In this case, the scene could act as a small model of the universe, and main character could symbolize the entire human race, restless in moral contradictions and dramatic conflicts between good and evil.

In modern Christendom, Protestant theology, unlike Catholic theology, which allows for allegorical interpretations of the Bible, avoids appeals to this form of exegesis and insists on the need to seek the meanings of Scripture in itself, and not in side associative trains of thought and bursts of imagination.

Lit.: Losev A. F. Shestakov V. P. History of aesthetic categories. - M. 1965 1 chapter "Allegory"); Popova M.K. Allegory in English literature middle ages. - Voronezh, 1993.

Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms

Allegory

♦ (ENG allegory)

(Greek allegoria - description of one thing through the image of another)

conveying the meaning of a story by attributing meaning to its elements or images that is not apparent from a literal reading. Can also be defined as an extended metaphor, where each element of the story is a symbol of meanings beyond the story.

encyclopedic Dictionary

Allegory

(Greek allegoria - allegory), depiction of an abstract idea (concept) through an image. The meaning of an allegory, in contrast to a polysemantic symbol, is unambiguous and separated from the image; the connection between meaning and image is established by similarity (lion - strength, power or royalty). As a trope, allegory is used in fables, parables, and morality tales; in the visual arts it is expressed by certain attributes (justice - a woman with scales). Most characteristic of medieval art, Renaissance, mannerism, baroque, classicism.

Ozhegov's Dictionary

ALLEG ABOUT RIA, And, and.(book). Allegory, expression chegon. abstract, what thoughts, ideas in a specific image. Speak in allegories (unclear, with obscure hints about something).

| adj. allegorical, oh, oh.

Efremova's Dictionary

Allegory

and.
A form of allegory consisting in expressing an abstract concept through
specific image.

Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Allegory

Artistic isolation of abstract concepts through concrete representations. Religion, love, justice, discord, glory, war, peace, spring, summer, autumn, winter, death, etc. are depicted and represented as living beings. The qualities and appearance attached to these living beings are borrowed from the actions and consequences of what corresponds to the isolation contained in these concepts, for example. the isolation of battle and war is indicated by means of military weapons, seasons - by means of their corresponding flowers, fruits or activities, justice - by means of scales and a blindfold, death - by means of a clepsydra and a scythe. Obviously, allegory lacks the full plastic brightness and completeness of artistic creations, in which the concept and image completely coincide with each other and are produced inseparably by creative imagination, as if fused by nature. A. oscillates between the concept arising from reflection and its cunningly invented individual shell and, as a result of this half-heartedness, remains cold. A., corresponding to the rich way of representing the Eastern peoples, occupies a prominent place in the art of the East. On the contrary, it is alien to the Greeks, given the wonderful ideality of their gods, understood and imagined in the form of living personalities. A. appears here only in Alexandrian times, when the natural formation of myths ceased and the influence of eastern ideas became noticeable. Its dominance is stronger in Rome. But it dominated most of all the poetry and art of the Middle Ages from the end of the 13th century, at that time of ferment when the naive life of fantasy and the results of scholastic thinking mutually touch and, as far as possible, try to penetrate each other; So - with most troubadours, with Wolfram von Eschenbach, with Dante. "Feuerdank", a 16th-century Greek poem describing the life of Emperor Maximilian, may serve as an example of allegorical-epic poetry. A. has a special use in animal epic. It is very natural that different arts have significantly different relationships to A. It is most difficult for modern sculpture to avoid it. Always doomed to depict a person, it is often forced to give as allegorical isolation what Greek sculpture could give in the form of an individual and complete image of the life of a god.

Russian language dictionaries

  • Allegory (from ancient Greek ἀλληγορία - allegory) is an artistic representation of ideas (concepts) through a specific artistic image or dialogue.

    Allegory is used as a trope in poetry, parables, and morality. It arose on the basis of mythology, was reflected in folklore and was developed in the fine arts. The main way to depict an allegory is to generalize human concepts; representations are revealed in the images and behavior of animals, plants, mythological and fairy-tale characters, and inanimate objects that receive figurative meaning.

    Example: justice - Themis (woman with scales).

    Allegory is the artistic isolation of concepts with the help of specific representations. Religion, love, soul, justice, discord, glory, war, peace, spring, summer, autumn, winter, death, etc. are depicted and presented as living beings. The qualities and appearance attached to these living beings are borrowed from the actions and consequences of what corresponds to the isolation contained in these concepts; for example, the isolation of battle and war is indicated by means of military weapons, seasons - by means of their corresponding flowers, fruits or activities, impartiality - by means of scales and a blindfold, death - by means of a clepsydra and a scythe.

    Obviously, allegory lacks the full plastic brightness and completeness of artistic creations, in which the concept and image completely coincide with each other and are produced inseparably by creative imagination, as if fused by nature. The allegory oscillates between a concept derived from reflection and its cunningly invented individual shell and, as a result of this half-heartedness, remains cold.

    Allegory, corresponding to the rich imagery of the way of representing the Eastern peoples, occupies a prominent place in the art of the East. On the contrary, it is alien to the Greeks, given the wonderful ideality of their gods, understood and imagined in the form of living personalities. Allegory appears here only in Alexandrian times, when the natural formation of myths ceased and the influence of Eastern ideas became noticeable. Its dominance is more noticeable in Rome. But it dominated most of all the poetry and art of the Middle Ages from the end of the 13th century, at a time of ferment when the naive life of fantasy and the results of scholastic thinking mutually touch and, as far as possible, try to penetrate each other. So - with most troubadours, with Wolfram von Eschenbach, with Dante. Feuerdank, a 16th-century Greek poem describing the life of Emperor Maximilian, may serve as an example of allegorical-epic poetry.

    Allegory has a special use in animal epic. It is very natural that different arts have significantly different relationships to allegory. It is most difficult for modern sculpture to avoid. Always doomed to depict a personality, it is often forced to give as allegorical isolation what Greek sculpture could give in the form of an individual and complete image of the life of a god.

    For example, John Bunyan’s novel “The Pilgrim’s Progress to the Heavenly Land” and Vladimir Vysotsky’s parable “Truth and Lies” are written in the form of an allegory.

ALLEGORY - (Greek allegoria allegory) depiction of an abstract idea (concept) through an image. Allegory - Allegory ♦ Allegorie The expression of an idea through an image or oral story. Allegory - (Greek allegory) expression of an abstract object (concept, judgment) through a concrete (image).

We can say that an allegory is an allegorical depiction of a phenomenon of reality. This technique is widely used in painting, theatrical art, literature and other types of human activity. An allegory is always an allegory, that is, the object or concept under consideration is not directly named, but is depicted allegorically using other phenomena of reality.

What is an allegory? Examples from fiction

Almost all heraldic symbols are allegorical in nature. Allegory in fine art is a vast topic for a separate discussion. The use of allegory by word artists helps to reveal abstract concept good, evil, meanness, greed, etc. in a specific artistic image. Allegory, unlike metaphor, covers the entire work, which is clearly visible in M. Gorky’s “Song of the Petrel.”

Allegory in literature

Allegory is used as a trope in poetry, parables, and morality. Allegory is the artistic isolation of concepts with the help of specific representations. The allegory oscillates between a concept derived from reflection and its cunningly invented individual shell and, as a result of this half-heartedness, remains cold. Allegory has a special use in animal epic. It is very natural that different arts have significantly different relationships to allegory.

See what “ALLEGORY” is in other dictionaries:

From the examples given, it seems obvious that the allegory is an allegory. The fact is that any trope is an allegory. For this reason, the Alexandrians and the Romans who followed them often mixed allegory with metaphor, metonymy, and personification. To this day, allegory is often confused with other types of tropes. This metaphor of Lermontov was never repeated by any of our poets. And vice versa, sometimes in pursuit of allegory they are satisfied with another trope.

But it helps to veil the idea, which is seditious from the position of the authorities, giving it the character of universality. fiction allegory is the main trope of animal epic, fable and parable.

Compare, for example, the depth of the human experience of death and its image in the form of an old woman with a scythe. Or an allegory of love in the form of a heart pierced by an arrow. Such are the carriers " speaking names": Starodum, Pravdin, Milon, Prostakova, Molchalin, Skalozub. In addition to the creators of animal epics, fables and parables, satirists are not indifferent to allegory. When preparing for the Unified State Exam in Russian, try to collect as many examples of allegory as possible.

Antithesis is stylistic figure, which connects contrasting concepts (light - darkness, love - hate, God - devil). It lies at the basis of dialectics. Poetry, painting, sculpture are not just a collection of words and information. That is why there are so many means of artistic expression in the Russian language. One of them is allegory. An allegory, if you try to formulate a definition, can be called a specific device designed to call something abstract a concrete concept or subject.

In literature. Very often, poets disguise feelings and intangible concepts under animals, plants, objects, giving the poem a unique style and thereby giving free rein to the reader’s imagination. An example of an allegory in painting is the painting “Freedom Leading the People” by Eugene Delacroix, a French artist.

That is, it is like an artistic synonym. Allegory can be confused with metaphor, because both concepts mean the expression of something through something. Metaphor is a figurative meaning based on similarity; allegory uses associations more. A metaphor most often expresses an animated concept, and an allegory an abstract one.

Video: examples of allegories and metaphors in creativity

A vivid image of allegories is fables, in which each character is a personification. Poetry also uses this means of expressing thoughts. Allegories are not easy to understand. For example, in the Christian religion, in every parable, all characters, objects and actions are allegorical. The owner is God, talents are all that we are awarded from birth: abilities, opportunities and health.

Almost every parable is built on allegories in order to more easily convey the truth to people. Art serves to lead a person to perfection, otherwise it is not art, but simple catering. There are various means of expression for this.

In general, I read the article and realized that I understood absolutely nothing. Although, most likely, I simply have no desire to deal with all this. Most often, A. are found in the visual arts (for example, the fresco “The Fight of Foxes and Dogs” in Florence, depicting the struggle of the church with heretics).

Allegorical imagery underlies “The War with the Newts” by K. Capek, one of the first anti-fascist novels in foreign literature. A. retains its ideological and artistic significance in the literature of the 20th century. This is especially true for satirical genres. She is presented in a comical, reduced and belittled form (“victorious nose” is the embodiment of conceit and arrogance from scratch).

This book will be produced in accordance with your order using Print-on-Demand technology. What is an allegory can be understood by specific examples. The image of a bowl and a snake entwined around it is today perceived by everyone as an allegory of medicine and healing.