This document discusses symbols and how to analyze them. It provides examples of common symbols like a rose representing love or an owl representing wisdom. It presents a method for analyzing symbols by describing the symbol, finding examples of it in the text, and determining what aspect of its meaning relates to what the symbol represents. Students are asked to identify and analyze symbols in the story of Rapunzel and the poem "The Sick Rose" by William Blake.

1. What is a symbol ?
It is something that stands for something
else. It is important to remember that it
functions on both a literal and figurative
level. When we look at it, we can
understand the meaning attached to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHAm
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2. How can you identify symbols?
• To test a) is it repeated or “large” within the
piece and b) does it relate to the central
concern.
• Common student problem: thinking almost
everything is symbolic.

3. Rapunzel
• Find 5 things that you believe are symbolic in
this text. What makes you think they are
symbolic?

4. Method of Analysis
• First: look at the symbol in detail—what
adjectives would you use to describe the
thing? Then: Find examples in the text where
you can see this symbol. What do you think it
symbolizes? Finally: ask which of the details
describing the symbol could tell us something
about the thing it symbolizes. Ask “Why is this
symbol appropriate?”

5. Match the symbolic terms with what
they represent
1. An oak tree
a. cunning
2. A crown
b. war
3. A dove with an olive branch
c. strength
4. A sword
d. night
5. An owl
e. authority
6. A light bulb
f. peace
7. A fox
g. idea
8. The moon
h. wisdom

6. Go Back…
• Choose one of the symbols in the previous
slide.
• Apply the method of analysis to it.

7. Now…
• Go back and choose ONE of the symbols you
found in Rapunzel. Apply the method of
analysis to that symbol.

8. Warning!
• There is often not a one-to-one match, but
ambiguous reference for symbols. Reading
too much into a symbol is a worse crime than
missing something symbolic within a piece.
Does any of the symbols you found in
Rapunzel have multiple interpretations?

9. Read the poem, "The sick rose” by William Blake.

10. Make a list of symbols used in the
poem.

11. Rose
• Rose: symbolizes perfection and the love. The
rose is always seen as feminine. A red rose can
represent life, passion and blood. A white rose
can represent purity and virginity.

12. Worm
• Worm: symbolizes death. It is connected with
evil and is seen as masculine. In this
poem, worm is also specifically the canker
worm which eats the roots of the rose.

13. Storm
• Storm: symbolizes
chaos, confusion, fear, wildness, destruction
and change. If the storm is seen to have
creative effects, there must first be great
wildness and destruction.

14. Bed
• Bed: symbolizes sleep, vulnerability and
innocence. In this poem it is also, of course, a
garden bed.

15. Night
• Night: symbolizes darkness, of things secret
and hidden. It is also a symbol of evil. Satan is
referred to as the Prince of Darkness.

16. Symbolism in “The Sick Rose”
• The speaker, speaking to a rose, informs it that
it is sick and dying. An “invisible” worm has
stolen into its bed in a “howling storm” and
under the cover of night. The “dark secret
love” of this worm is destroying the rose’s life.
• While the rose exists as a beautiful natural
object that has become infected by a worm, it
also exists as a literary rose, the conventional
symbol of love. The image of the worm makes
us think of the Biblical serpent, i.e. Satan .

17. •
•
•
•
Symbolism in “The Sick Rose”
The rose is a symbol of love and beauty is
used to portray a naïve young woman whose
affair is literally killing her.
The invisible worm that flies in the night is
used to represent the woman’s forbidden
lover. Since the “worm” comes in the dark,
this would imply an illicit affair possible with a
married lover.
The “howling storm” is symbolic of a storm of
desire.
The “crimson bed” is not a literal flower bed,
but the bed of passion.

18. Theme
• The last lines of the poem reveal the cost paid for
dark, hidden desire. By opening up the rose’s tender
petals, the “worm” uncovers the flower’s nakedness
and vulnerability. This can be interpreted as a loss of
virginity and innocence. The lover of the rose then
destroys her very life.
• William Blake’s “The Sick Rose” uses
personification, symbolism, and tone to illustrate the
high price of passion. Although it is a short poem, it
has a powerful message. For everything there is a
price. For every sin there is a judgment.

19. Apply this…
• Look at the symbol you have chosen to study
in Rapunzel. What theme might this symbol
support? How does it help the author explore
this idea?

20. Homework
• Write a paragraph (remember TIQA) analyzing
what your chosen symbol represents and how
that supports one of the author’s themes.