Symbolism

Sherwood BrooksDriftwood Middle School

Lesson Objectives

The students will:• understand symbolism

• recognize how symbolism is used

• explain how symbolism is used in their daily lives

• understand how different writers use symbolism in various aspects of prose

A symbol is…

is something that represents something else, either by association or by resemblance. It can be a material (concrete) object or a written sign used to represent something invisible (abstract).

How do writers use symbolism?

Symbolism is used when a writer uses an event, item or a character to stand for something else.

Symbols can be characters, such as a character symbolizing good or evil. People can be symbols, such as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.

Objects can also be symbols, such as in the scarlet letter.

Authors use symbolism, as a form of imagery or metaphor, when they want to portray something to the reader without using the narrator.

When an item is mentioned rather regularly throughout a novel, especially a personal item belonging to one of the principal characters, the reader must ask what it might symbolize.

Symbolism

Symbols are used in daily life – road signs, maps, household items etc.

Symbolism is often used to intensify a feeling or idea

Symbolism can take place by having the theme of a story represented on a physical level.For example, the occurrence of a storm at a critical point, when there is conflict or high emotions. The storm might come to symbolize these emotions.

Another example might be the way sound is used to replace a character or an event

Let's look at some actual examples of symbolism used in literature and other media, with which you might be familiar.

The Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling could be seen as containing a lot of symbolism. One clear example is the use of a snake to represent evil. It is no coincidence that the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent.

Symbols are created by conscious and deliberate use of language by writers, advertisers and speakers.

What do these symbols represent?

The Sick RoseWilliam Blake

O Rose, thou art sick.The invisible wormThat flies in the nightIn the howling storm

Has found out thy bedOf crimson joy,And his dark secret loveDoes thy life destroy.

Symbolism At first this poem appears to be about a rose and a

worm, but even a non-gardener knows that worms are not invisible and they don’t fly. Once the worm is seen as an abstraction, the rose is too, and it can be interpreted according to conventional associations such as love, faith, hope, tender emotions, youthful optimism; the list can extend as far as the reader's imagination and ingenuity can take it.

An owl symbolizes wisdomThe phoenix symbolizes rebirthThe dove symbolizes peaceFire represents anger or safety

Symbols work like images that have meaning added to them. A rose is just a flower, until it is one of a bunch given as a present. Then it signifies love, passionate if the rose is red, purity if it is white.

When it appears in a poem by William Blake, however, it becomes more complex

Well, son, I'll tell you:Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.It's had tacks in it,And splinters,And boards torn up,And places with no carpet on the floor—Bare.But all the timeI'se been a-climbin' on,And reachin' landin's,And turnin' corners,

And sometimes goin' in the darkWhere there ain't been no light.So, boy, don't you turn back.Don't you set down on the steps.'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.Don't you fall now—For I'se still goin', honey,I'se still climbin',And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Mother to Son – Langston Hughes

Mother to Son – Langston Hughes

• What is the setting? What does it symbolize?• Who is the main character? • Is the main character symbolic?• Name some objects in the poem that are symbolic. • What does each object symbolize?• Is there evidence of symbolism in the author’s use of words/language?• If so, tell the literal and abstract meaning of each.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claimBecause it was grassy and wanted wear,Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I marked the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to wayI doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.

The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost

• What is the setting? What does it symbolize?• Who is the speaker? • Is the speaker symbolic?• Name some objects in the poem that are symbolic. • What does each object symbolize?• Is there evidence of symbolism in the author’s use of words/language?• If so, tell the literal and abstract meaning of each.

you mix the dough of experience with the yeast of inspiration and knead it well with love and pound it with all your might and then leave it

until it puffs out big with its own inner force and then knead it again and shape it into a round form and bake it in the oven of your heart

A Loaf of Poetryby Naoshi Koriyama

A Loaf of Poetryby Naoshi Koriyama

• Who is the speaker? Is the speaker real?• What is the main idea of the poem?• What is the theme of the poem?• Name some objects in the poem that are symbolic. • What does each object symbolize?• Is there evidence of symbolism in the author’s use of words/language?• If so, tell the literal and abstract meaning of each.

Let them be as flowers,always watered, fed, guarded, admired,but harnessed to a pot of dirt.I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed,clinging on cliffs, like an eaglewind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.To have broken through the surface of stone,to live, to feel exposed to the madnessof the vast, eternal sky.To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea,carrying my soul, my seed,

beyond the mountains of timeor into the abyss of the bizarreI’d rather be unseen, and ifthen shunned by everyone,than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,growing in clusters in the fertile valleys,where they're praised, handled, and pluckedby greedy, human hands.I'd rather smell of musty, green stenchthan of sweet, fragrant lilac.If I could stand alone, strong and free,I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.

Identity --- Julio Noboa Polanco

Identity --- Julio Noboa Polanco

• What is the setting? What does it symbolize?• What is the theme?• Is the main character symbolic?• Name some objects in the poem that are symbolic. • What does each object symbolize?• Is there evidence of symbolism in the author’s use of words/language?• If so, tell the literal and abstract meaning of each.