Allegories

**Allegories **


During the Middle ages, an allegory was a story that told of morals, myths, a person's life, or religious tales. At first allegories were just written in Latin, but as they became more popular people translated some stories into their own language. For example, a group of poets named, Erec, Enide, Yvain, and Lancelot translated romances that were in French to German. There were lots of famous poets in the Middle ages. One was named Pope Gregory I the Great created the story called 'Bridge over Troubled Waters'. It was a tale of the afterlife of a dreamer. This created an allegory device, dreaming, that many other writers have been influenced by. Another famous writer was named Boethius. He wrote 'The Consolation of Philosophy'. It was the first allegory to use dialogue.
 * http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/William_Langland.jpg **

These writers techniques are now used for popular allegory devices and themes. These devices are dreams, visions, voyage, battle between virtues and vices, spiritual discovery, and journey. The most common theme or device is journey. Journey is when in the story the narrator learns from characters and things that he or she has encounters. A good example of a poet that used journey in an allegory is 'The Divine Comedy'. It was written by Dante, an Italian poet. In the Middle ages there was a poet named William Langland. He used most of the popular allegory devices in his allegory called, 'Piers Plowman'. It is one of the best examples of allegory devices and themes because he used dream, voyage, battle between virtues and vices, and spiritual discovery in his allegory. Allegories were widely used in the middle ages. They could tell love stories, comedies, religious tales, and more.

Works Cited
 * “Allegory.” The Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia for Students. Ed. William Chester Jordan. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1996. 21-22. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 11 Mar. 2010.
 * “Literature.” Medieval World. Ed. Sally MacEarchern. Vol. 6. Danbury, CT: Grolier Educational, 2001. 26-29. Print.
 * Magnus, Lepidus. “Wikimedia Commons.” File:William Langland. Jpg. N.p., 31 Mar. 2008. Web. 9 Apr. 2010.