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A symbol is an ordinary object, event, person, or animal to which we have attached a special meaning.

**What Is a Symbol?

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

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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?

What might the cake symbolize in this passage?

What is your emotional response to the description of the cake?

Symbols in Literature

Quick CheckThe 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]

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

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

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 CheckOne 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”

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On a symbolic level, what does it mean that only Good Deeds stays with Everyman to the end?

Allegory

Quick CheckOne 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”

**Allusion

• a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature.

• Allusions are often indirect or brief references to well-known characters or events.

• Specific examples of allusions can be found throughout Dante’s Inferno

Practice

C. Here is a passage from Dante’s Inferno. What are the allusions? (hint: there are 2)

 With six eyes did he weep, and down three chinsTrickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel.

          At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching               A sinner, in the manner of a rake,So that he three of them tormented thus.

                    "That soul up there which has the greatest pain,"

               The Master said, "is Judas Iscariot;With head inside, he plies his legs without.

          Of the two others, who head downward are,               The one who hangs from the black jowl is Brutus;

See how he writhes himself, and speaks no word.

Practice

C. Here is a passage from Dante’s Inferno. What are the allusions?

 With six eyes did he weep, and down three chinsTrickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel.

          At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching               A sinner, in the manner of a rake,So that he three of them tormented thus.

                    "That soul up there which has the greatest pain,"

               The Master said, "is Judas Iscariot;With head inside, he plies his legs without.

          Of the two others, who head downward are,               The one who hangs from the black jowl is Brutus;

See how he writhes himself, and speaks no word.

Understanding Allegory

Shel Silverstien’s Poetry

Poem #1 The Oak and the Rose

• What is the literal focus of the poem?• What is happening in the poem?• Where is there a shift(s) in tone?• What tis the conclusion?• How might this WHOLE poem be

allegorical?

Interpretation

• The whole poem might symbolize one or two ideas:

• A relationship that “grew” apart• Lines 1, 5, 6, and words such as “cry”,

“screaming”, “no time”.• The parting of childhood friends and loss

of innocence• Lines 1-6, 15-16 and words such as

“newer”, “grown”, and “young and green together”

Poem #2 The Bridge

• What is the literal focus of the poem?• What is happening in the poem?• Where is there a shift(s) in tone?• What is the conclusion?• How might this whole poem be

allegorical?

Your turn!

• Tell us what you think the poem “The Bridge” might be an allegory for. Be sure to include specific line numbers and/or words.