Symbol

1. Symbol • a word, phrase, image, or the like used for or regarded as representing something else; a material object or word representing something, often an abstract concept that you can’t see. = USA, bravery, patriotism = romantic love, emotion = futility

2. Words as symbols As symbols, words often have multiple meanings; i.e. they can represent more than one physical object or abstract concept Blue = Blue = Blue = @!!%#@!!

3. Denotative meaning • a word’s literal, dictionary meaning • The general meaning most likely to be shared by most users of the word Earthworm: n. any one of numerous annelid worms that burrow in soil and feed on soil nutrients and decaying organic matter.

4. Denotative meaning • We often rely on the context in which the word is placed to identify the denotative meaning. Headlines Kids Make Nutritious Snacks Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant Farmer Bill Dies in House Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Space

5. Denotative meanings for “hit” • to deal a blow or stroke to: Hit the nail with the hammer. • to come against with an impact or collision, as a missile, a flying fragment, or a falling body • to drive or propel : to hit a ball onto the green. • to have a marked effect or influence on; We were all hit by the change in management. • to assail effectively and sharply; The speech hits out at warmongering. • to request or demand of: He hit me for a loan. • to reach or attain (a specified level or amount): Prices are expected to hit a new low. • to be published in or released to; appear in: What will happen when the story hits the front page? to land on or arrive in: The troops hit the beach at 0800. When does Harry hit town? • to give (someone) another playing card, drink, portion, etc.: the dealer hit me with an ace • to come or light upon; meet with; find: to hit the right road. • to agree with; suit exactly: I'm sure this purple shirt will hit Alfred's fancy. • to solve or guess correctly; come upon the right answer or solution: You've hit it! • to succeed in representing or producing exactly: to hit a likeness in a portrait. • to begin to travel on: Let's hit the road. What time shall we hit the trail? • to kill; murder. • to ignite a mixture of air and fuel as intended: This jalopy is hitting on all cylinders. • a stroke of satire, censure, etc.: a hit at complacency. • hit on, Slang. to make persistent romantic advances to • hit up, Slang..to ask to borrow money from • hit the books, Slang. to study hard; cram dictionary.com

6. Denotative definition of “clown” • n. a comic performer, as in a circus, theatrical production, or the like, who wears an outlandish costume and makeup and entertains by pantomiming common situations or actions in exaggerated or ridiculous fashion, by juggling or tumbling, etc. dictionary.com

7. Connotative Meaning Feelings and associations that are not directly connected to a word’s denotative meaning. Such associations vary with individual experiences, memories, emotions, and viewpoints.

8. Nurse’s Song (Songs of Innocence) – William Blake When voices of children are heard on the green, And laughing is heard on the hill, My heart is at rest within my breast, And everything else is still. 'Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down, And the dews of night arise; Come, come, leave off play, and let us away, Till the morning appears in the skies.' 'No, no, let us play, for it is yet day, And we cannot go to sleep; Besides, in the sky the little birds fly, And the hills are all covered with sheep.' ‘Well, well, go and play till the light fades away, And then go home to bed.' The little ones leaped, and shouted, and laughed, And all the hills echoed.

9. Nurse’s Song (Songs of Experience) – William Blake When the voices of children are heard on the green, And whisperings are in the dale, The days of my youth rise fresh in my mind, My face turns green and pale. Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down, And the dews of night arise; Your spring and your day are wasted in play, And your winter and night in disguise.

10. Nurse’s Song (Songs of Experience) – William Blake When the voices of children are heard on the green, And whisperings are in the dale, The days of my youth rise fresh in my mind, My face turns green and pale. Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down, And the dews of night arise; Your spring and your day are wasted in play, And your winter and night in disguise.

11. Assonance The Bean Eaters They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair. Dinner is a casual affair. Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood, Tin flatware. Two who are Mostly Good. Two who have lived their day, But keep on putting on their clothes And putting things away. And remembering . . . Remembering, with twinklings and twinges, As they lean over the beans in their rented back room that is full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths, tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes. Gwendolyn Brooks

12. Assonance The Bean Eaters They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair. Dinner is a casual affair. Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood, Tin flatware. Two who are Mostly Good. Two who have lived their day, But keep on putting on their clothes And putting things away. And remembering . . . Remembering, with twinklings and twinges, As they lean over the beans in their rented back room that is full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths, tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes. Gwendolyn Brooks

13. Alliteration The Seafarer May I for my own self song’s truth reckon,Journey's jargon, how I in harsh daysHardship endured oft.Bitter breast-cares have I abided,Known on my keel many a care's hold,And dire sea-surge, and there I oft spentNarrow nightwatch nigh the ship's headWhile she tossed close to cliffs. Coldly afflicted,My feet were by frost benumbed.Chill its chains are; chafing sighsHew my heart round and hunger begotMere-weary mood. Lest man know notThat he on dry land loveliest liveth,List how I, care-wretched, on ice-cold sea,Weathered the winter, wretched outcastDeprived of my kinsmen; Hung with hard ice-flakes, where hail-scur flew,There I heard naught save the harsh seaAnd ice-cold wave, at whiles the swan cries,Did for my games the gannet's clamour,Sea-fowls, loudness was for me laughter,The mews' singing all my mead-drink. Ezra Pound

14. Alliteration The Seafarer May I for my own self song’s truth reckon,Journey's jargon, how I in harsh daysHardship endured oft.Bitter breast-cares have I abided,Known on my keel many a care's hold,And dire sea-surge, and there I oft spentNarrow nightwatch nigh the ship's headWhile she tossed close to cliffs. Coldly afflicted,My feet were by frost benumbed.Chill its chains are; chafing sighsHew my heart round and hunger begotMere-weary mood. Lest man know notThat he on dry land loveliest liveth,List how I, care-wretched, on ice-cold sea,Weathered the winter, wretched outcastDeprived of my kinsmen; Hung with hard ice-flakes, where hail flew,There I heard naught save the harsh seaAnd ice-cold wave, at whiles the swan cries,Did for my games the gannet's clamour,Sea-fowls, loudness was for me laughter,The mews' singing all my mead-drink. Ezra Pound

15. Internal rhyme The Cloud I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers From the seas and the streams; I bear light shade for the leaves when laid In their noonday dreams. From my wings are shaken the dews that waken The sweet buds every one, When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, As she dances about the sun. I wield the flail of the lashing hail, And whiten the green plains under, And then again I dissolve it in rain, And laugh as I pass in thunder. Percy B. Shelley

16. Internal rhyme The Cloud I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers From the seas and the streams; I bear light shade for the leaves when laid In their noonday dreams. From my wings are shaken the dews that waken The sweet buds every one, When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, As she dances about the sun. I wield the flail of the lashing hail, And whiten the green plains under, And then again I dissolve it in rain, And laugh as I pass in thunder. Percy B. Shelley