Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Brite
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Brand Logo

agnos.is Forums

  1. Home
  2. Ask Lemmy
  3. How are analogy and allegory distinct?

How are analogy and allegory distinct?

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Ask Lemmy
asklemmy
24 Posts 12 Posters 1 Views
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • F [email protected]

    An analogy is an explicit comparison between two concepts. Analogies are often signalled by words such as 'like' or 'as'. (Edit: As someone pointed out, similes use these words. Not all analogies do. I wasn't completely paying attention when I wrote this, sorry!)

    In contrast, allegories are stories that implicitly draw a connection between two concepts. A good example of this might be George Orwell's Animal Farm. On it's face, it is a story about animals revolting against their owner and creating their own system of governance. While it generally follows the story of the Russian revolution, Orwell never directly states this. Instead, it is up to the reader to figure that out.

    memfree@piefed.socialM This user is from outside of this forum
    memfree@piefed.socialM This user is from outside of this forum
    [email protected]
    wrote last edited by
    #9

    'like' or 'as'.

    That's similes.

    Now you have to explain similes and metaphors. Oh, oh! and do fables and parables!

    F S 2 Replies Last reply
    6
    • memfree@piefed.socialM [email protected]

      'like' or 'as'.

      That's similes.

      Now you have to explain similes and metaphors. Oh, oh! and do fables and parables!

      F This user is from outside of this forum
      F This user is from outside of this forum
      [email protected]
      wrote last edited by
      #10

      Oh my gosh, can't believe I did that. Fortunately they are a type of analogy, so I'm not just totally spreading misinformation.

      1 Reply Last reply
      2
      • L [email protected]

        "The allegory of the cave" Is another great example!

        F This user is from outside of this forum
        F This user is from outside of this forum
        [email protected]
        wrote last edited by
        #11

        Is that Plato's Cave? I'm not super familiar with it. Animal Farm was just the first allegory to pop in my head.

        L 1 Reply Last reply
        1
        • F [email protected]

          Is that Plato's Cave? I'm not super familiar with it. Animal Farm was just the first allegory to pop in my head.

          L This user is from outside of this forum
          L This user is from outside of this forum
          [email protected]
          wrote last edited by
          #12

          Yeah! great read if you have the time. It can be used to explain alot of things since its a very open take on going from a state of ignorance or naivety to "seeing the light". I think its an important read, since people still in the "cave" are hard if not impossible to "convince" with such a limited perspective on reality.

          I further interpret this to mean If we want to pull our fellow man out of the cave, we have to help change their perspective and meet them where they are in their journey out.

          1 Reply Last reply
          1
          • S [email protected]
            This post did not contain any content.
            D This user is from outside of this forum
            D This user is from outside of this forum
            [email protected]
            wrote last edited by
            #13

            Since I haven’t seen it yet, an analogy describes how a comparison you may not be familiar with relates to one you probably are. For example: lamb is to sheep as puppy is to dog. Or murder is to crows like pack is to wolves.

            S 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • D [email protected]

              Since I haven’t seen it yet, an analogy describes how a comparison you may not be familiar with relates to one you probably are. For example: lamb is to sheep as puppy is to dog. Or murder is to crows like pack is to wolves.

              S This user is from outside of this forum
              S This user is from outside of this forum
              [email protected]
              wrote last edited by [email protected]
              #14

              By way of right?

              What pithy phrase might embody allegory in the same way?

              D 1 Reply Last reply
              1
              • S [email protected]
                This post did not contain any content.
                theneverfox@pawb.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                theneverfox@pawb.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                [email protected]
                wrote last edited by
                #15

                An analogy is when you take one relationship between things, and you draw similarities between that and another relationship

                An allegory is when you create a story out of this, the analogy becomes the setting and you use the analogy to work through implications through narrative

                1 Reply Last reply
                2
                • memfree@piefed.socialM [email protected]

                  'like' or 'as'.

                  That's similes.

                  Now you have to explain similes and metaphors. Oh, oh! and do fables and parables!

                  S This user is from outside of this forum
                  S This user is from outside of this forum
                  [email protected]
                  wrote last edited by
                  #16

                  The umbrella was a rain shield

                  memfree@piefed.socialM 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • C [email protected]

                    As an analologist, I can confirm your findings.

                    S This user is from outside of this forum
                    S This user is from outside of this forum
                    [email protected]
                    wrote last edited by
                    #17

                    Analrapist

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • T [email protected]

                      You are technically correct, the best kind of correct.

                      S This user is from outside of this forum
                      S This user is from outside of this forum
                      [email protected]
                      wrote last edited by [email protected]
                      #18

                      Thats all i ever wanted. Why stray so far from adequacy?

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • S [email protected]

                        The umbrella was a rain shield

                        memfree@piefed.socialM This user is from outside of this forum
                        memfree@piefed.socialM This user is from outside of this forum
                        [email protected]
                        wrote last edited by
                        #19

                        That is more of a definition.
                        A simile might be:

                        • The baby bird opened her mouth like an umbrella.
                        • She's stacked like bricks.

                        A metaphor might be:

                        • Faith is our umbrella.
                        • She's a brickhouse.
                        S 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • memfree@piefed.socialM [email protected]

                          That is more of a definition.
                          A simile might be:

                          • The baby bird opened her mouth like an umbrella.
                          • She's stacked like bricks.

                          A metaphor might be:

                          • Faith is our umbrella.
                          • She's a brickhouse.
                          S This user is from outside of this forum
                          S This user is from outside of this forum
                          [email protected]
                          wrote last edited by [email protected]
                          #20

                          The umbrella shielded against the precipitous rain

                          memfree@piefed.socialM 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • S [email protected]

                            The umbrella shielded against the precipitous rain

                            memfree@piefed.socialM This user is from outside of this forum
                            memfree@piefed.socialM This user is from outside of this forum
                            [email protected]
                            wrote last edited by
                            #21

                            Still definitional. The point of umbrellas is to shield/protect from the weather. A standard construction is: "Umbrellas shield against rain," or "The umbrella protects you from rain," or "An umbrella keeps you dry when the weather is wet."

                            All the types of writing being discussed are about unrelated things where a common aspect is brought out. So "Faith is our umbrella" implies that belief in something (God/gods/karma/goodwill) acts as a shield against bad things in the same way an umbrella shields against rain. "She's stacked like bricks" implies she is visually pleasing and 'well built' in the same way bricks are stacked to be both solidly built and visually pleasing. A defintional description would be, "She has the body of a beauty queen."

                            Technical writing is not supposed to use metaphors, similes, allegories or analogies except in very specific situations where the technical details must be further explained. Creative and descriptive writing may use all manner of devices to build vivid imagery.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            1
                            • S [email protected]

                              By way of right?

                              What pithy phrase might embody allegory in the same way?

                              D This user is from outside of this forum
                              D This user is from outside of this forum
                              [email protected]
                              wrote last edited by [email protected]
                              #22

                              The poster who mentioned Animal Farm got allegory pretty well.

                              Also, I kind of overdid it. Analogies really just show synonymous relationships. That they can help someone understand a relationship is superfluous.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              1
                              • S [email protected]
                                This post did not contain any content.
                                P This user is from outside of this forum
                                P This user is from outside of this forum
                                [email protected]
                                wrote last edited by
                                #23

                                I feel like you're posting your homework questions on here

                                S 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • P [email protected]

                                  I feel like you're posting your homework questions on here

                                  S This user is from outside of this forum
                                  S This user is from outside of this forum
                                  [email protected]
                                  wrote last edited by [email protected]
                                  #24

                                  I know you haven't done yours if you thought and verbalized that 😉

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  Reply
                                  • Reply as topic
                                  Log in to reply
                                  • Oldest to Newest
                                  • Newest to Oldest
                                  • Most Votes


                                  • Login

                                  • Login or register to search.
                                  • First post
                                    Last post
                                  0
                                  • Categories
                                  • Recent
                                  • Tags
                                  • Popular
                                  • World
                                  • Users
                                  • Groups