This document discusses symbols and symbolism in literature. It begins by defining what a symbol is and explains that symbols can be inherited over time from art and literature or invented by writers. The document then discusses how writers use symbols to add deeper meaning and make stories more powerful and memorable. It also discusses allegory, noting that allegories can be read on a literal and symbolic level and are often used to convey moral lessons. The document provides examples of symbolic characters and places in allegories. It includes discussion questions analyzing symbols in short passages from works of literature.

1. What Is a Symbol?
Where Do We Get Symbols?
Symbols in Literature
Allegory
Practice Part A
Practice Part B
Symbolism and Allegory
Feature Menu

2. [End of Section]
A symbol is an ordinary object, event, person, or
animal to which we have attached a special
meaning.
What Is a Symbol?

3. Public symbols
• have been inherited, or
handed down over time
• show up in art and
literature
Where Do We Get Symbols?
• are widely known
Note

4. What does each of these symbols stand for? Why
do you think they have taken on the meanings
they have?
justice luck
love
Where Do We Get Symbols?

5. [End of Section]
Invented symbols
• come about when writers
make a character, object,
or event stand for some
human concern
• sometimes become
well known and gain
the status of public
symbol
Where Do We Get Symbols?

6. Writers use symbols to
• suggest layers of meaning that a simple, literal
statement could never convey
• speak more powerfully to the reader’s
emotions and imagination
• make their stories rich and memorable
Symbols in Literature

7. What might the
cake symbolize
in this passage?
What is your
emotional
response to the
description of
the cake?
Symbols in Literature
Quick Check
The most prominent object was a long
table with a tablecloth spread on it. . . .
An épergne or centrepiece of some kind
was in the middle of this cloth; it was so
heavily overhung with cobwebs that its
form was quite undistinguishable; . . . I
saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy
bodies running home to it, and running
out from it. . . .
“What do you think that is?” she asked
me, again pointing with her stick; “that,
where those cobwebs are?” . . .
“It’s a great cake. A bride-cake. Mine!”
from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens [End of Section]

8. Allegory—a story in which characters, setting,
and actions stand for something beyond
themselves, such as
• abstract ideas
• moral qualities
• historical figures or
events
Allegory

9. Allegories
• can be read on two levels: literal and symbolic
• are often intended to
teach a moral lesson
or make a comment
about goodness and
vice
Allegory

10. Characters and places in allegories often have
names that reveal their symbolic significance:
Characters Places
Death
Vanity
Good Deeds
Ignorance
Celestial City
Vanity Fair
Hill of Difficulty
Valley of Fear
Allegory

11. What do you think
Everyman, the main
character of the
allegory, stands for?
What comment about
fellowship, beauty, and
strength does this
allegory make?
Allegory
Quick Check
One day, Everyman is
summoned by Death to give an
accounting of his life. Everyman
ask his friends Fellowship, Beauty,
Strength, and Good Deeds to go
with him to tell Death that he has
led a good life. Only Good Deeds
stays with him to the end.
—summary of “Everyman”
[End of Section]

12. On a symbolic level,
what does it mean that
only Good Deeds stays
with Everyman to the
end?
Allegory
Quick Check
One day, Everyman is
summoned by Death to give an
accounting of his life. Everyman
ask his friends Fellowship, Beauty,
Strength, and Good Deeds to go
with him to tell Death that he has
led a good life. Only Good Deeds
stays with him to the end.
—summary of “Everyman”

13. A. Think about the great number of symbols we’re
surrounded by in everyday life. For starters,
identify what the items below stand for. Then, see
if you can explain the basis for the symbol—why is
this symbol appropriate for what it stands for?
• A snake
• An eagle
• Spring
• An owl
• A white flag
Practice
[End of Section]

14. B. Here is a brief poem that works on two levels: a
literal level and a symbolic level. A fen is a
swampy place. What does the fen symbolize in this
poem?
Practice
I May, I Might, I Must
If you will tell me why the fen
appears impassable, I then
will tell you why I think that I
can get across it if I try.
—Marianne Moore
[End of Section]

15. The End