Cognitive Poetics of Allegorical Experience

Where does allegory come from? Most studies of allegory view it as a type of artistic or literary endeavor. Our claim is that allegory arises from ordinary experience as people seek to establish connections between the here and now and symbolic and figurative themes. Most embodied metaphors reflect patterns of allegorical thought. We describe some of the ways that allegory is expressed in life events and specific domains of discourse. We report college students’ interpretations of allegory in poetry and literature. We explore the hypothesis that understanding allegory requires people to engage in an “embodied simulation” process in which they imagine themselves participating in the events mentioned in texts. Several studies offer support for this theory, focusing on people’s interpretations of the works of poets and novelists. These findings suggest that allegorical understandings emerge from embodied, cognitive processes that are widespread throughout human experience as part of the “poetics of mind.”