Symbol a visible object or action that suggests

Symbol- a visible object or action that suggests some further meaning in addition to itself

Conventional Symbols. u. A Flag or Black cat. u Red Rose, Christian cross u These represent a further meaning

How to find Symbols Better not to notice the symbols at all rather than look under every stone. u 1. Pick out all references to concrete objects u -emphasis by detailed description u -repetition u -placed at the beginning or end u -if when the poem is paraphrased it depends almost entirely on certain concrete images u for meaning u

Literary symbols are not an abstraction- love, death -see in mind’s eye u -well developed character with dialogue is not a symbol, not mysterious but u executioner in black hood, biblically named characters, and trio of 3 women resemble the 3 fates

-can be part of person’s body like the eye in Tell Tale Heart u -not second term of a metaphor u lighting is a yellow fork, the symbol is lighting, not fork u

Anecdote of the Jar—Wallace Stevens u u u I placed a jar in Tennessee And round it was, upon a hill. It made the slovenly wilderness Surround that hill. The wilderness rose up to it, And sprawled around, no longer wild. The jar was round upon the ground And tall and of a port in air. It took dominion everywhere. The jar was gray and bare. It did not give of bird or bush, Like nothing else in Tennessee.

u Sometimes it is a sound u A symbol exceeds a typical image in richness of connotation. u Symbolic act u A symbol doesn’t stand for or represent, it evokes, suggests, or manifests.