Still can't figure it. Probably me being stupid. If, as the dictionary suggests, allegory is the representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form. then why can those characters, figures or events not be real ones? Genuinely interested.

Perhaps my last one was a bad example. If I were to relate the events of the last few days, with John Prescott playing croquet while he should have been running the country, then I could well be allegorising the general impression of laisse-faire in the government. It is both allegogical and historic. Is it not?