Allegory in Literature and Life

Allegory is one of the distinguishing marks of many great works of literature.Over many centuries and cultures, authors have conveyed many symbolic messages about human life and the quest for religious faith in terms of different earthly trials and tribulations.These allegorical messages are closely linked, nonetheless, with many embodied conceptual metaphors that motivate different contemporary modes of thinking and language (e.g., life is a journey).My argument in this article is that literary allegory also has an important connection to our fundamental "allegorical impulse", in which humans automatically seek connections between the physical here and now with larger symbolic life themes.Allegory is a way we live, and seek meaning within our daily lives, that frequently gets elaborated upon in great works of literature.