Tolkien both claimed that LOTR was allegorical and that it wasn't. Probably he was using the common definition of allegory in one context and the literary defin

Tolkien both claimed that LOTR was allegorical and that it wasn't. Probably he was using the common definition of allegory in one context and the literary definition in the other. When Tolkien said he disliked allegory, he meant he disliked literary works that map directly onto some external meaning that was necessary for understanding the story. He thought a story should stand on its own, and, further, it wasn't good writing to try to force a story into allegory rather than let it take its own direction. But we also know from his letters that he purposefully incorporated religious (specifically, Catholic) metaphors into LOTR, which most people would call allegory, including Tolkien on some occasions.