Raynor, it's not all that complicated, really. Tolkien denies using allegories consistantly. And he does so because this sets strict meaning upon the text. If Tolkien had intended "Sauron to look like Hitler and Saruman to look like Stalin" and the "West to be the allies of WW2," than that would be allegory.
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Of course the L.R. does not belong to me. It has been brought forth and must now go its appointed way in the world, though naturally I take a deep interest in its fortunes , as a person would of a child.~Letter # 328
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I much refer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers~Foreward to LOTR
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Allegories mean "This represents this" and that is the accepted interpretation of the text. Tolkien didn't want that, he wanted his readers to form their own opinions, therefor he says there's no allegories in his stories. But, as you show you can find them, and as he wrote, if you're looking for allegories (which I think most readers are) than you can certainly find them. However, it wasn't Tolkien's intentions to write an allegorical book, or to say "LOTR represents World War II," because this means that is what's accepted and what the readers have to interpret it as. Tolkien clearly didn't want that, he wanted his readers to experience freedom in their interpretation. He used a wide variety of resources and cultures and histories and put them into his writings, so the readers can interpret the stories and find the "allegories" that they want to find. But, he did not write the book as an intended allegory towards anything, because this would force the readers to see the book a certain way.
Some say Boromir's redemption is a Christian redemption, I say it looks more Anglo-Norman. And the interesting thing in Tolkien is that we can support both and believe both and be right about both. If Tolkien intentionally used allegories, one of us would be right, or in fact neither of us could be.
