Apologue – Literary Terms

Apologue, Literary Terms

Apologue – Literary Terms

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Apologue:

Any story, short or long, is designed to illustrate the truth of a statement is called Apologue. The statement might be a moral lesson, such as "It is better to ask some of the questions than to know all the answers," illustrated by James Thurber's "The Scotty Who Knew Too Much," from Fables for Our Time. The statement also might be a philosophical conclusion, such as the opinion that human happiness is an impossible ideal, illustrated by Samuel Johnson's Rasselas. Among the different kinds of apologues are the FABLE, in which the CHARACTERS are usually animals; the ALLEGORY, in which the characters are often abstract qualities, such as virtues and vices; and the PARABLE, in which the characters are human beings, sometimes actual persons.

See ALLEGORY, EXEMPLUM, FABLE, PARABLE.