Symbolism

Symbols

A symbol is something that represents something else –for example, the lion can be a symbol of courage.

We can decipher the symbolic meaning of literature by analyzing the symbols that the author includes.

There are three main types of symbols. “Conventional” or “public” symbols.

Symbols that exploit widely shared associations.

Symbols that are created by writers that we need to interpret.

Conventional Symbols

Many symbols are what we call conventional symbols or “public” symbols.

For example, “the Cross” or “the Red, White, and Blue”

These terms refer to symbolic objects which derive their significance from the culture which they belong to.

Symbols by Association

These are symbols too but they don’t necessarily have a definitive “literal” meaning like the others.

Their symbolic meaning is the product of a widely shared associated between an object or even or action wit a specific concept.

Poetic Symbolism

Some writers use symbols whose significance they largely create themselves.

These pose a more difficult problem of interpretation than “conventional symbols” and “symbols by association.”

ex: “Ah Sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun; Seeking after that sweet golden clime Where the traveler’s journey is done;” 

l(a le af fa ll s) one lines

      “l(a” e. e. cummings1958

Leaf Falling

LonelinessSimilarities

Personification

Occurs when objects, ideas, or animals are given human qualities.

Ex: The sun smiled down on me.

Personification can be found in a variety of forms.

MR. CLEAN

Example of Personification

Pink is what red looks like when it kicks off its shoes and lets its hair down. Pink is the boudoir color, the cherubic color, the color of Heaven's gates. . . . Pink is as laid back as beige, but while beige is dull and bland, pink is laid back with attitude.(Tom Robbins, "The Eight-Story Kiss." Wild Ducks Flying Backward. Random House, 2005)

Allegory

The basic meaning of allegory is ‘to say another thing’ ‘to speak otherwise’.

Allegory: Is a simple story whose major purpose is to teach a moral lesson.

An allegory can always be read on two levels – one literal, the other symbolic.

In an allegory the things or people of a story represent something entirely other – perhaps an idea or a moral lesson.

Where to find allegories

• Allegories can be as short as a single

sentence or as long as a ten volume

book.

• Poems, novels, plays and film can all be

allegorical.

• Fables and parables are types of

allegories.

Two Types of Allegory

There are two main types of allegory:

1.Historical/Political Allegory

2.Allegory of Ideas

Historical/Political Allegory

In historical/political allegory historical persons and events are referred to via metaphor and symbolism.

Political ideas of systems may also be represented.

Animal FarmOn a literal level George Orwell’s novel is about the animals on a farm rising up in rebellion against their human keepers.

On a symbolic level this novel is actually a historical political allegory describing the development of Russian communism and the power struggles between it’s main actors.

Old Major = Karl Marx

Napoleon = Joseph Stalin

Allegory of Ideas

In the Allegory of Ideas characters personify abstract concepts and the story attempts to teach the audience a lesson.

The Bible

Many bible stories are allegorical,

The apple that Adam receives from Eve is symbolic of the knowledge of Good and Evil and is thus allegorical.

The serpent is often read as symbolizing temptation or true evil. f

Fables and Parables

Fables and Parables are also considered examples of allegories of ideas.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf: There was a boy tending the sheep who would continually go up to the embankment and shout, 'Help, there's a wolf!' The farmers would all come running only to find out that what the boy said was not true. Then one day there really was a wolf but when the boy shouted, they didn't believe him and no one came to his aid. The whole flock was eaten by the wolf.

The story shows that this is how liars are rewarded: even if they tell the truth, no one believes them.

THE BOY WHO CRIED 'WOLF

There was a boy tending the sheep who would continually go up to the embankment and shout, 'Help, there's a wolf!' The farmers would all come running only to find out that what the boy said was not true. Then one day there really was a wolf but when the boy shouted, they didn't believe him and no one came to his aid. The whole flock was eaten by the wolf. The story shows that this is how liars are rewarded: even if they tell the truth, no one believes them.

Metaphor Explained

A metaphor, the comparison between two unrelated nouns (persons, places, or things).

express a connection, or a desire for a connection, between humans and the world that exists around them.

What humans notice about this world are the obvious and recurring cycles: The sun traveling across the skies into darkness and then emerging again; the yearly cycles from Spring to Winter and back again; the human life cycle from birth to death and then new birth.

Metaphor Example

I saw suddenly a beautiful face, and then another and another, and then a beautiful child’s face…and I tried all that day to find words for what this had meant to me, and I could not find any words that seemed to me worthy, or as lovely as that sudden emotion. And that evening… I found, suddenly, the expression. I do not mean that I found words, but there came an equation…”

The apparition of these faces in a crowd

Petals on a wet black bough.

Ezra Pound