allegory vs anecdote

allegory

noun
  • A narrative in which a character, place, or event is used to deliver a broader message about real-world issues and occurrences. 

  • A symbolic representation which can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, usually a moral or political one. 

  • A picture, book, or other form of communication using such representation. 

  • A category that retains some of the structure of the category of binary relations between sets, representing a high-level generalisation of that category. 

anecdote

noun
  • A short account of a real incident or person, often humorous or interesting. 

  • A previously untold secret account of an incident. 

  • An account which supports an argument, but which is not supported by scientific or statistical analysis. 

verb
  • To tell anecdotes (about). 

How often have the words allegory and anecdote occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )