#36 allegory

allegory- a poem, play, picture, etc. used to symbolize a deeper moral or spiritual meaning; use of such symbolism to illustrate truth or a moral; anything used as a symbol or emblem

-also:allegorical (adjective), allegorize (verb)

-C14 from Old French allegorie, from Latin allegoria, from Greek allegorein- to speak figuratively

John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and Herman Melville's Moby Dick are allegories.

'The true type of the allegory is the Odyssey, which we read without suspicion as pure poem, and then find a new pleasure in divining its double meaning, as if we somehow got a better bargain of our author than he meant to give us.'

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