The New Perspective Reading Literature Allegorically Essay

You know, I thought I had a firm grasp on the guilt that I have felt over the last three years, but it turns out there is more to it. In my last essay, I confronted my guilt in a more spiritual sense I think, but this time around I feel like there is an even more tangible lesson to learn and it can ultimately affect how I am as a person in the future. I remember reading stories like Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia as they were – just stories of wizards with the ability to make things float or disappear and with worlds that are simply just a wardrobe away. However, I never imagined that under all that magic it could be interpreted to be so much more – that this young wizard and his world or the journey that the Pevensie’s go on†¦show more content†¦But [he] could not bear to be a little one; [he] was only swollen with pride†¦[he] seemed a very big man† (Augustine 910). Augustine finds the way the Bible was written then to be too s implistic, more fitting for children so there was no reason to interpret it, but what he didn’t understand then was that within that simplicity was a message that could have provided the growth that his mind sought. I understand his inability to convert to Christianity due to the fact that it was something that did not parallel with what he had been taught because I have also felt conflicted like Augustine when it came to religion before. However, we can see that as Augustine is writing his confessions, he is continuously reading even his own work allegorically. An example was in the way he had interpreted his younger self weeping over the death of Dido. In book II, Augustine writes about how he was â€Å"forced to memorize the wanderings of Aeneas† and as a result â€Å"[forget his] own wanderings†¦ and [wept over] the death of Dido who killed herself for love, while bearing dry-eyed [to his own] state† (Augustine 906). Literally, Augustine weeping over Dido’s death would just be someone who was sad over a character dying in a story. However, allegorically, Augustine saw his weeping as being â€Å"nothing†¦more pitiful than a pitiable creature who does not see to pity himself, and weeps for the death that Dido suffered through love of Aeneas and not for the death he suffers himself through notShow MoreRelatedLord of the Flies by William Golding1585 Words   |  7 PagesCollege at Oxford University. After initially inclined to achieve his degree in the sciences, William decided to dedicate his studies to the field of English literature. After this major change, William published a volume of poetry named Poems in 1934. In the years to come, Golding repudiated his work. In 1935, he earned his degree in English Literature and began his early professional career. After receiving his college education, William Golding began working a settlement house. 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