Writing 101: The Beauty of the Allegory

My writing is pretty predictable I think Bill. Now you have me thinking how I can add allegory to one of my recipes! Not sure it's going to work. Have a great day Bill.

Well, my allegory is gone from hubpages! I got a message that it was like significant content on another website. The version I wrote in the hub is a different version I linked to, but that must be what hubpages is having trouble with. That version is a Power Point Presentation that had the two characters Zip and Zoom, two garden snails added. BUT, I had forgotten the "similarity" rule. UGH! So poor Polly must be fated to live in the quiet confines of my website which gets 0/1 view/day (the address of which I think I can't publish here because of "over-promotion" rule.) So if any one wants to listen to Polly as a Power Point it's on my website listed in my profile. Just click on "Polly and the Measuring Stick" on the site map on the bottom of the page. If you want to leave a comment, just go to the Forum on my website that is also listed on the bottom of the page. Thanks, guys.

I was not going to partake of this challenge Bill because I have written a number of poems as allegories, however if I can manage to find the time I did write a children's story years ago with Australian animals as the main characters. It is very long but I may be able to make a hub out of it.

Bill, I dragged out two of my 92 thousand versions of "Polly and the Measuring Stick" which were parked in a forgotten folder on my C: drive and put them into a hub. I hope to get some critque of this little fable (?) allegory (?) and maybe some idea as to what to do with it. Thanks for article here that motivated me to dust this off and re-publish it here and on my website. None of us, even Polly want to be sitting around feeling useless! Cheers, and again, thank you :)

I like your excerpts, including your personal example. I enjoy the non-literal and in college had professors encouraging me to pursue literary criticism as a career. (Who does that?)

Two wonderful examples of allegory with Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies. I'm confident I couldn't write a novel but may have a bash at a poem. Does that sound like cheating? Don't watch this space, I procrastinate. Impressive article, thank you.

I've used an allegory for a college English assignment once. I'm not sure if I'll ever use it again, but I'll definitely keep it in mind.

Hi Bill,

Yes, the allegories in the Bible are amazing and provide such great insight to life and how we should live a most abundant life. I read Animal Farm too. I think poetry is for the most part. I had forgotten all about allegories until reading this piece. Writing an allegory is no easy task!

C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is an allegory.

I voted that your piece is not an allegory.

Blessings always

Think I'm in conflict. To be or not to be?

Informative and very well explained. Great hub and voted up.

In light of recent disturbing political trends I think writers will be making greater use of allegory to help protect our tender necks. Question is: Will the "Dancing with the Stars" public understand it? Great hub, you are the king my friend.

Agreed that we have less practical use for allegory these days due to more tolerant political environments. However, it is still alive and well even in business lit. An example would be Spencer Johnson's Who Moved My Cheese? Great stuff as usual. Cheers!

A well-explained hub. You have a talent in writing the best.

Another brilliant hub Billy and you have certainly made your mark here on HubPages . Your challenges are also so inspiring and one day very soon I will try one myself. Promise !!!Keep up the great work my dear friend as HubPages would certainly not be the same without you any more. Wonderful lesson once again and voted up up and away .

Eddy.

I think allegories get an unfair rap. I remember reading that JRR Tolkien would get quite offended when anyone suggested that LOTR might be an allegory (I don't know if that's actually true). I often wondered why - his friend CS Lewis did quite well with obvious allegory. Sometimes I think there is a notion that allegory is for less talented writers, that a sophisticated writer finds ways to convey meaning in less obvious ways. That's a shame, because allegory can be quite powerful.

Oh, and I love the Matrix video. One of my favorite movie trilogies.

I have not heard of 'Allegory' earlier. Thanks for explaining what it means through your hub. Now I understand this and it sounds beautiful indeed.

Thanks for sharing and voted up!

Very interesting one again. Your citation of examples including your own are great. But I voted for not enough stuff to judge your one. I expected some more touch to it. You are very inspiring, as always, with the call to try allegories in our writings.

Voted up and interesting.

Good evening Bill from wintery cold Mich.

Great lesson and an encouragement.

The annals would record this as a classic: You have mentioned ‘The most famous’ ( Jesus) allegorical orator and this far no one has opposed. Having you as a great teacher / mentor everyone of us would like to have your "you have pass the test.” Meanwhile in case of your sample allegory one of your student would go back with not passing mark. My vote is “ yes “ based on the philosophy of the same great allegory orator, who said “How can I describe the people who are living now? They are like children who sit in the marketplaces and shout to other children, We played music for you, but you didn’t dance. We sang a funeral song, but you didn’t show any sadness.” A strong allegory carrying message ‘ Woe to that man, who knows not the difference between good and evil.’ In your sample an evil has been chased by his sub conscience ,and at the point of confronting his “own” evil wasn’t over with his own “MISSION”- as assuming your novel would continue his adventure…( Wasn't time now to end his life ?)

Well, being wrong is either to admit or to blame on someone inspiring toward being wrong. ( a fault is on my imagination. ).

Voted up and useful.

Peace be with you my friend.

Just curious, Bill. I think I'm too straight forward to bring allegories into my writing. I've even been told that if I didn't watch what I said I could be arrested (when our current leader first went into office). See what I mean? LOL

The allegory is a very interesting concept. Thanks for sharing the examples and for challenging us to write a story containing an allegory, Bill.

billybuc

Maybe the word ideology was too ambiguous?

Does an allegory need to have a reference point to triangle its meaning to the reader?

More likely my story was missing a character, one that would have identified with freedom, and it was freedom that built the Internet, and Hp was built under the umbrella of that same freedom, which in my view it thought irrelevant to distribute it to their population.

Off the rails, weeeeee.

ooops sharp turn aheadddd.

lol

Bill, I've already responded to your challenge. You thought it was pretty amazing. My question is: was there an allegory in my story?

When you call it a parable, it hit me as something I wouldn't have any problem doing. Thanks for the idea. I would have voted, but for some reason it wasn't working.

This is my last read for today. I've been a very bad girl by not following my after-care instructions, but I'm trying to catch up on my reading.

Your writing hubs bring long-forgotten terms to mind, I must admit. When I write, I just write without trying to employ terms I learned so long ago and have forgotten so many years later.

However, I think I may have used an allegory (or two) in my response to your Woman on the Mountaintop challenge. Or am I wrong?

billybuc

The Internet

and Hp.

I guess you were right, glass is veiled.

lol

Thanks

The allegories in the Bible are great ways to teach us about life and ourselves, but I'm not sure I could write one successfully. However, I had great fun with one of my paintings one year, I called it 'Mature Love', and it was amazing standing nearby and hearing people's comments on what they thought they saw in it.

It certainly is stretching the boundaries. I read Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm but never thought of writing that way. Hmm...I may have to take up this challenge, but no promises here.

You definitely keep writing alive my friend.

Voted up, useful, awesome, and interesting.

I'm so glad you talked about this, Bill. I think allegory also treats the reader like an intelligent human being. It makes them work, but it assumes they're smart enough to understand.

Well, Bro. I think that Christ was a genius! Only today someone said that Darwin's book - whatever its called - was the most popular, followed by the Bible. But since I do not remember Darwins, then this goes to show, does n't it?

You're not doing bad yourself. The dream one could use a little extra time.

Two great books mentioned: Animal Farm and Lord of The Flies. Peace.

Billybuc. I believe today's politics written allegorically, to present simpler, would be read and stir greater understanding, action. I'm sure there are writers here who could meet the challenge you have presented. Good read.

Bill, good point. You're right that we could use allegories more often. Simple words can turn into magic.

As you have aptly expressed - Jesus used it often to express highland to flatland, otherwise you might not reach out to others.

It takes more time and dedication to speak in parables then the direct approach, perhaps this is why people tend to avoid them.

Good point!

Okie, doke. I accept the challenge, Bill. I wrote "Polly and the Measuring Stick" years ago. I might as well post it here on hubpages since it's just sitting doing nothing on Kindle (tee hee). At least I like it! The problem is that I don't exactly know where one can sell an allegory. This is really a story for adults, but appears as if it's a children's story. I got one rejection from Winslow publishing years ago. I had been in NY and actually looked up the address of the publishing co. I simply walked in the building, and amid a pile of moving boxes was a LOVELY young woman, an agent, who took "Polly" when I handed it to her. A short time later, I received a lovely rejection letter later saying it was beautifully written, but too short for a children's chapter book and too long for a picture book. So Polly the Petunia and her snail friends Zip and Zoom are just floating around aimlessly in the ethers. My daughter had been going with a talented graphic designer at the time who had made amazing sketches for Polly, but my daughter and the artist broke up. Ah, such is a writer's life. I'll post the story with those sketches.

Thank you for continuing to share useful concepts and writing techniques! ;-)

It was hard to know if The Shadow Man was an allegory or a bad dream or maybe real escapade. to be an allegory, the Shadow man would have to represent something, like the tax man chasing down a hapless citizen.

Great lesson time, I learned much. I will give it a try.

billybuc

Thanks for your kind words and I appreciate your feedback, the good, bad, and the ugly. Although, I haven't seen the latter two yet.

Anyway, did you guess what the two ideologies were in my comment?

Thanks

bradmasterOC

Bill, I wrote a poem awhile back, "Road of pain" where I use allegory for the first time. The poem was about a woman on the road to Mogadishu, fleeing from a war zone, on the way she lost her "children", first Joy then Hope, Faith and finally Grace. All the things poverty, pain and suffering can deprive us of. This is very useful tips and another exceptional piece of work from you.

I've since, unpublished the poem, I'm hoping to include it in a book of poems I want to publish one day. :) Take care, my best as always.

So, would my hub, the Death of Planet Squidoo, qualify as an allegory? Not that I am asking you to read it but could you skim it and let me know. Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies are favorites. And, I think the time is coming where writing will need to revert to allegory as the noose closes in on free speech.

Gees, I don't know about doing this one. I don't completely understand what to do. I will read it again and google it. Thank's teach.

I love allegory. It brings clarity and understanding to concepts and ideas. I heard it once referred to as an extended metaphor in a general sense. I am still working on your last challenge and hope to wrap it up soon. Then I hope to find time to try this one.

So now that we have the homework assignment, Mr. Holland, where do I begin? I'll have to think this one over. Wondering if you ever read Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyun in the 1600's .From a religious standpoint, it was way ahead of its time. See you next Monday, if not before!

I do like the idea of having a go at this but it might take some time! It'll be stretching the boundaries which is what I need.

You are doing exactly what your final phrase always says, “Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.” I fancy flying high to see what the world has to offer!

Enjoy the rest of your week, bill!

Ann

billybuc

I think allegories were used to obliquely broach a subject that was unpopular by the ruling entity of the time. It would be considered a passive aggressive act by today's social interactions.

An allegory could be denied its underlying message if the entity attacked the writing, and the writer.

I haven't read fiction since, I was in college years ago. My reading in college was mostly technical textbooks. And my work since college has also been in the technical area for reading, as well as writing.

I remember in high school, the teacher saying to the class, what did the author mean when he wrote this story?

My usual thought was the cover story? As it required the knowledge of the South in one author's writing, and being from NY, I had no idea what was going on in the south at this time, much less the era of the story.

My interpretation of an allegory

There once was a land where the people lived in freedom and over time they protected those freedoms with blood, sweat and tears.

Then one day in the corner of that land, a new ideology was born. It was allowed to grow and prosper because of the desire of the people to continue freedom in all forms, and expressions.

The new ideology seemed to be in concert with the general ideology of the land. This ideology prosper, and grew and it became common place after once having been only experienced by a few.

Year after year, more and more people experienced the wonders and extent of this ideology. This expansion however created eddy currents for the ideology.

Then at some point, a group using that ideology, which was based on freedoms of the country, used the ideology for its own voice. Its voice was more of an undertone than one that could be heard loud and clear.

Built on the constructs and theme of freedom this group thought of itself above the freedom that it had been bestowed with by the country. It thought of itself more as a Kingdom protection from attack by the ideology of freedom.

The group dispensed its ideology through acts that lacked any understanding of freedom by banishing its followers that didn't agree with them.

------

Now, I am sure that this shows I have not grasped the lesson you provided in this hub.

I am sure that there is a label for this kind of writing, maybe bad, confusing, or some other term that describes trying to disguise something using a glass costume.

Thanks

bradmasterOC

I just read a great one here on hubpages. I don't know if she is in your group or not, but she compared our walk with Christ to 4 stages of a butterfly and she did well, too. It was the first one I'd read outside the Bible in a long time. I remember reading Animal Farm and the teacher told us it was written as a warning to democracies, showing how they could turn communist. "Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others." That's the only line I remember from the whole book, but that says it all. Well done Bill. You may have inspired me to write an allegory!

Another great article that encourages us to challenge ourselves. I think I actually do use allegory in a lot of my poetry to convey an underlying message. Even in my story "One Way Ticket (The Train From Purgatory) the names of the stations Purgatory, Perdition, and Absolution represent our choices in life and afterlife. Would you agree that is an allegory? Jesus' parables were the best though, and I love "Animal Farm".

Definitely haven't thought about this in quite sometime myself, but you do make a valid point about using an allegory here today and left me with food for thought. Oh and you totally brought me back to 11th grade English with The Lord of the Flies reference today! Happy Wednesday now :)

Hi Bill. A really good hub today, food for thought and easy to follow. I admit here that I voted no however. A point of interest; many years ago whilst on business in London. I stayed at a small hotel. It was converted from an old school, the outside façade had been retained so the building was very interesting in itself. When going into the Bar I saw photos of George Orwell all around. It turned out that he had been a teacher there in earlier years. So a great conversation piece was never far away.

Graham.

I really enjoyed reading this, Bill! You cited some of the greatest novels including your next one! Allegories are a great way to get the message across. Although they may not always admit it, people like to think! Up++ Thank you!

Hi Billy Buc, I am very familiar with the allegory, especially the stories in the Bible. Voted up, useful and interesting. I am glad you brought this up. I voted that Shadows Kill was NOT an allegory, but I have to say I loved the excerpt. When I get a story from my sister (she loves to do that and I say it lovingly), she will then say, "Lea this is an allegory of your life!" She uses allegories all the time! I love everything you share, I truly do. God bless you always. Sparklea :)

I can understand the hidden meanings and the concept of a moral or political story.. even though this hub helps it may not be easy for a one dimensional writer like myself.. I will practice and practice and use this hub as a guideline my friend :)