Read Next
Discover
Arts & Culture
dream allegory
literary genre
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.
Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Thank you for your feedback
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
Also known as: dream vision
dream allegory, allegorical tale presented in the narrative framework of a dream. Especially popular in the Middle Ages, the device made more acceptable the fantastic and sometimes bizarre world of personifications and symbolic objects characteristic of medieval allegory. Well-known examples of the dream allegory include the first part of Roman de la rose (13th century); Chaucer’s Book of the Duchesse (1369/70); Pearl (late 14th century); Piers Plowman (c. 1362–c. 1387), attributed to William Langland; William Dunbar’s The Thissil and the Rois and The Goldyn Targe (early 16th century); and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress (1678).