Comparative examination of allegory in English and Persian: a case study of the books " Mantiq al-Teir" by Attar and " The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan

Allegory has always been one of the favorite literary types for different nations and it could be considered as a universal figure of speech. In addition spiritual journey has been repeatedly used allegorically in different forms such as poetry and story. An example of versified allegory in Persian is “Mantiq al-Teir” by Attar and in English is “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe. An example of prose allegory in Persian is “The Story of Stranger’s Nostalgia” by Shab al-Din Sohrevardi and in English is “The Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan or “Divine Comedy” by Dante. The present article tries to find similarities and differences in the content, story, characters and themes of these works through comparative review. The results show that although these two writers were from two different historical periods and religious and cultural conditions, they have described the spiritual journey through similar elements such as allegorical symbolism and characterization in a way that some characters in “The Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan could be equalized with the birds in “Mantiq al-Teir” by Attar.