ALLEGORY (Greek αλληγορ?α - allegory), a type of allegory consisting of conveying an abstract idea using a visual image. In this case, the image means something other than itself; its content remains external to it, being unambiguously assigned to it cultural tradition or the author's will. The concept of allegory is close to the concept of symbol, however, unlike allegory, a symbol is characterized by greater polysemy and a more organic unity of image and content, while the meaning of allegory 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 decryption is extracted from it. For example, the blindfold on the female figure and the scales in her hands are European tradition allegories of 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.
S. S. Averintsev.
In literature, allegory first appears in ancient Greek and Roman authors; in ancient rhetoric it is described as one of the tropes (see Tropes and figures of speech). In the era of late antiquity, large works arose that were entirely built on the principle of allegory: the poem “Psychomachy” by Prudentius (late 4th century) - an allegorical depiction of the struggle of passions; "The Marriage of Philology and Mercury" by Marcian Capella (between 400 and 439), which presented the "seven liberal arts" in the form of allegorical female figures.
The literature of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque widely used allegory to express both courtly and amorous ideas (chivalrous romances, the French “Roman of the Rose”, 13th century) and moral, religious, mystical truths. A favorite type of allegory was personification, which depicted abstract concepts in the form of humanoid creatures; various plants, animals, gems, buildings (“grotto of love” in the novel “Tristan” by Godfrey of Strasbourg, early 13th century) and the like.
Mythological heroes in medieval adaptations of ancient works were interpreted as an allegory of biblical characters (Eurydice - an allegory of Eve, Orpheus - Christ in the French poem “The Moralized Ovid”, 14th century). Stable plot and thematic schemes have emerged that are characteristic of an allegorical narrative: an imaginary journey-search (numerous medieval visions; romance novel“Hypnerotomachia Polyphilus” by F. Colonna, 1499; "The Pilgrim's Progress" by J. Bunyan, 1678-84); legal proceedings (“Complaint of Art” by Conrad of Würzburg, mid-13th century); hunting, tournament competition, castle siege and the like. In the literature of the 18th-20th centuries, allegory, repressed various types symbol, was found less and less often (elements of allegory in the 2nd part of “Faust” by J. W. Goethe, 1831; in the novel “Animal Farm” by J. Orwell, 1945).
In philology, allegorical interpretation is the interpretation of a text as an allegory that hides some higher meaning. This method, common in late antiquity and the Middle Ages, was first used by the Stoics in interpreting the poems of Homer (in order to discover in his poetic images philosophical truths) and then transferred by Philo of Alexandria (1st century) to the interpretation of the Old Testament. Christian exegetes included the allegorical interpretation in the system of polysemantic interpretation of Holy Scripture: the allegorical meaning is one of the four possible meanings of the text (along with the literal, moral and anagogical). In addition to the Bible, ancient texts were subject to allegorical interpretation, especially Virgil’s Aeneid (comments by Bernard Sylvester, 12th century, interpret the first 6 songs of the poem as a description of the exodus of the soul from the body and its return to God).
IN fine arts allegory separated from religious and mythological images in ancient culture, where figurative compositions arose, depicting not so much the gods themselves, but the natural philosophical and ethical ideas personified in their appearance (for example, Kronos-Saturn embodies Time; Fortune - Fate; Aphrodite-Venus - Love; Gaia-Tellus, Poseidon-Neptune and Hephaestus -Volcano - the natural elements of Earth, Water and Fire). Early Christian art used allegory as a secret cipher that recreated basic religious concepts for initiates (for example, scenes of bathing and swimming marked the sacrament of Baptism, shepherd motifs - a religious community). In medieval iconography, allegorical images (of sins and virtues, months, etc.) didactically complement the main image.
Many motifs of the Old Testament, in accordance with theological tradition, were interpreted as an allegorical anticipation of the events of the Gospel (the Sacrifice of Abraham as a prototype of the Crucifixion, the story of Jonah swallowed by a whale as a prototype of the Resurrection of Christ, and so on).
In the Renaissance and Baroque eras, allegory combined ancient and Christian imagery. The connection between an image and its allegorical meaning often implied knowledge literary basis works (“Earthly Love and Heavenly Love” by Titian, circa 1515-16). During this period, special manuals were devoted to visual allegories (“Iconology” by Cesare Ripa, 1593), they were collected and systematized in collections of emblems. IN artistic practice of academicism, allegory became the basis historical painting. The Romantics condemned the abstractness and narrative nature of allegory, preferring challenging game characters; the poetics of allegory was adopted and developed by movements at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (symbolism, metaphysical painting, surrealism). Allegory is constantly found in heraldry and is common in decorative art.
Lit.: Panofsky E. Studies in iconology; humanistic themes in the art of the Renaissance. N. Y., 1939; Fletcher A. Allegory, the theory of a symbolic mode. Ithaca, 1964; Losev A.F., Shestakov V.P. History of aesthetic categories. M., 1965; Formen und Funktionen der Allegorie. Stuttg., 1979; Quilligan M. The language of allegory: defining the genre. Ithaca, 1979; Rollinson Ph. Classical theories of allegory and Christian culture. Pittsburgh; L., 1981; Popova M.K. Allegory in English literature Middle Ages. Voronezh, 1993; Bellot Ch. Zu Theorie und Tradition der Allegorese im Mittelalter. Koln, 1996. Bd 1-2.
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 Allegorical meaning, 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. Musical piece or part of it at that pace.
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; in the visual arts it is expressed by certain attributes (justice - a woman with scales). Most characteristic of medieval art, Renaissance, mannerism, baroque, classicism.
Allegory
(Greek allēgoría ≈ allegory), a conventional representation in art of abstract ideas that are not assimilated into the 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 through the interpretation of 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 kit, 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 historical modeling dedicated to pre-Christian era, as a result of which it was chosen musical style team and its future direction creative activity. Over time, the group's style transformed into a fusion of ethnic music 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 image-rich mode of presentation 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's very natural that various arts consist in significantly different relationships to allegory. It is most difficult for modern sculpture to avoid. Being always doomed to depict the individual, she 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 a 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, which 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 a wandering plot into a 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 the landscape or 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.
The metaphor should be new and unexpected. As it is consumed, it is “erased”, i.e. a new basic meaning develops in the word, corresponding to the original “figurative” meaning. The word "charming" is a simple designation high quality anything, without any thought about “charms” and witchcraft.
Metaphors that come from the conditional linking of phenomena, expressed not only in verbal use, should be distinguished from such “erased” metaphors. Thus, the heart expresses love in a number of conventional images (faith - a cross, hope - an anchor), which can be represented in painting, sculpture, etc. Allegories of mythological origin are known (Cupid - love, Themis - justice, etc.). We will call allegories conventional objects or phenomena used to express other concepts.
An allegory is usually conventional, i.e. presupposes some previously known relationship between two compared phenomena, while a metaphor can be completely new and unexpected.
In an allegory (allegory), words have their original meaning, and only the phenomenon they signify, in turn, means what the speaker’s thought is ultimately directed towards. These are allegorical apologies (fables), where something else is “implied” under the guise of a conventional theme.
An extended or expanded metaphor also approaches the allegorical system of utterance, which is almost always developed and extensive. In an extended metaphor, words are combined according to their literal meaning, thereby creating a context that is meaningful in its literal meaning, and only individual words are introduced into the context, as well as general meaning coherent speech, show that we are dealing with speech of figurative meaning.
Since the context supports the understanding of words in their basic, literal meaning, two series of concepts and ideas pass in parallel in the mind - according to the literal and figurative meaning of the words, between which some connection is established. Here is an example of an extended metaphor:
GRAVE OF LOVE
The young man has a fatal volcano in his chest.
He's smoking. A world of love has been built under the flames.
Then - years passed: Vesuvius was calmed
And heartfelt Herculan is buried in the ashes;
Dreams, love and jealousy sleep under a pile of lava;
The world, seething with life, is now a hoary antiquity.
And memory, finally, like a cold miner,
Bursting into the depths, wanders among those ruins,
He moves the grave, digs up the coffin
And he finds the incorruptible mummy of love;
The dead person has shades of dreams on her brow,
There are still charms in numb features,
They shine in the eyes of the faded
Remains of petrified tears.
Of the two wreaths thrown for her inheritance,
One has long disappeared, the other is still fresh, like new:
The wreath of roses has long since decayed,
And only one crown of thorns
He survived the eternal plagues.
(V. Benediktov.)
This poem is built on metaphors. The words “in the chest”, “world of love”, “dreams, love and jealousy” explain to us the real (secondary) meaning of metaphorical words. But words are combined according to their primary meaning, and the result is a “picture” of cooled lava in which a miner is excavating. In the second part of the poem there is an obvious allegory of the “crown of thorns”, borrowed from gospel themes. Thus, what we have here is not a simple metaphor (naming things an unusual word), and an allegorical image of love in the form of a volcano.
Wed. allegory (extended metaphor) by Mayakovsky:
History has never seen anything more unprecedented in its annals
fact:
yesterday.
through the frost,
ringing in the international,
Smolny
rushed
to the workers in Berlin.
And suddenly
saw
detective figures -
all these regulars of bars and operas -
three-story
ghost
from the Russian side:
Got up.
Walking around Europe.
The diners did not have time to finish lunch -
to this place
crashed
and above the Alley of Victories -
banner
"The Power of the Council."
In vain the plump hands prayed, -
unstoppable in his silent career.
Crushed
and Smolny rushed further,
republics and kingdoms taking barriers.
And already
from gloss
pavement gloss
Brussels,
pulling on the nerve
the legend grew
about "The Flying Dutchman"
"Dutch" revolutionaries.
Here the allegory (revolution is a ghost) is borrowed from the first lines of the Communist Manifesto: “A ghost haunts Europe, the ghost of communism.”
An extended metaphor is a common technique for developing a lyrical theme.
Tomashevsky B.V. Theory of literature. Poetics - M., 1999
The concept " allegory"most often found in literary criticism and is used as artistic technique. Allegories are also used in fine art and sculpture.
An allegory is an allegory that is intended to explain an abstract, intangible concept/phenomenon (“wisdom”, “cunning”, “kindness”, “childhood”) through an objectively existing, material image - a figurative-objective component.
Allegory in artistic speech.
To the question what is allegory, any dictionary answers. The term comes from the Greek allegoria and literally translates as “allegory.” Otherwise, one can call the allegory expanded.
Unlike a simple metaphor, which serves to compare two phenomena from different spheres of life on the same associative basis, an allegorical comparison turns from an ordinary stylistic device into a compositional device that is important for understanding the author’s ideas. Therefore, an allegory is always included in the system of images and must be “read” by those for whom the work was created. For example, the connection between the sun and human life expressed in “sunsets” and “dawns,” which are understood as youth and fading.
Examples of allegories.
Many feelings and properties human personality are perceived as allegory, examples which everyone understands:
- hare - cowardice,
- snake - wisdom
- Leo - courage
- dog - devotion.
Allegory is trope, which is why it is used in many works of fiction:
- fables,
- songs,
- parables,
- yell.
Allegory did not bypass prose texts either. It can often be found in novels of different eras.
Allegory in fine art and sculpture.
In the paintings of great artists and in the sculptures of skilled craftsmen we encounter personified allegories of youth, youth, time, etc. in the form beautiful women and girls with certain ones. For example, the allegory of justice is characterized by scales and a blindfold, the allegory of truth is a mirror, and the allegory of voluptuousness is the tempting serpent.
Personified allegories are characteristic of the art of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque and Classicism. In those days, it was customary to depict even kings and members of their families as the huntress Diana, mother Hera, father Zeus, golden-haired Apollo, etc.
The meaning of any allegory is unambiguous; it cannot be interpreted in different ways. The connection between the meaning inherent in a phenomenon and the image reflecting it is manifested through the undeniable similarity of their properties, which is perceived equally by all carriers of culture. Therefore, the Indian allegory “elephant walk,” which means grace, cannot be perceived by Europeans the way Indians perceive it.
We hope that our article introduced you to the concept of “ allegory" and explained, what is this.
ALLEGORY, -i, f. (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.
View value ALLEGORY in other dictionaries
Allegory- allegory
Dictionary of synonyms
Allegory- and. Greek allegory, heterodoxy, foreign language, circumlocution, circumlocution, prototype; speech, picture, statue in a figurative sense; parable; pictorial, sensual image of thought.........
Dictionary Dahl
Allegory- (ale), allegories, w. (Greek allegoria). 1. Allegory, visual, pictorial expression of abstract concepts through a concrete image (lit.). This poem is full of allegories.........
Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
Allegory of J.— 1. A form of allegory, which consists in expressing an abstract concept through a concrete image.
Explanatory Dictionary by Efremova
Allegory- -And; and. [Greek allegoria - allegory]. In the art of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classicism: the embodiment of something. ideas in concrete artistic images and forms........
Kuznetsov's Explanatory Dictionary
Allegory- (Greek allegoria - allegory) - depiction of an abstract idea (concept) through an image. The meaning of the allegory, in contrast to the polysemantic symbol, is unambiguous and separated from the image;........
Big encyclopedic dictionary
Allegory— - allegory, transmission of an abstract idea, thought through an image.A. What distinguishes it from a symbol is that it is unambiguous. Many A. modern cultural consciousness inherited........
Psychological Encyclopedia