Consider this…

1. Make a list of your top four university selections. • List the reasons for your selections. • Rank them in order of top to bottom. Consider this… What university would your future employer consider to be most favorable for an employee candidate. What university would provide opportunities to meet your future spouse.

2. Symbol • Something that represents something else. • Meaning is determined by the context in which it is used. • Conventional • Recognized by many to represent certain ideas. • Literal or contextual • Goes beyond traditional meaning • Cannot be summarized in a word or two • Conveys feelings associated with it.

3. Purpose of Symbolism Writer uses symbolism to deepen the thematic resonance or significance. Involve the reader on a deeper level in the discovering and making of meaning. The symbol works like a magnet, pulling the stray bits of meaning into more significant elements developing a pattern.

4. Types of Symbolism Conventional (Public) Symbolism: Traditional emblems such as a dove representing peace. These objects, actions, people, places, or ideas are understood by many people within a particular culture. Private Symbolism: Symbols that have meaning only for the people who are involved in the situation, such as a special napkin saved from the prom to remind us of the fun had that evening. In literature they are intrinsic to the work and reveal their symbolic character through repetition or strategic placement. Name Symbolism: names for their character that serve not only to label them but also suggest something about them.

5. Symbolic Use of Objects and Actions. Symbols can reinforce and add meaning or they can carry the meaning. Symbols signal their existence by emphasis, repetition, or position. To be called a symbol, an item must suggest a meaning different in kind from its literal meaning. A symbol may have more than one meaning. It may suggest a cluster of meanings much like a many-faceted jewel flashing different colors when turned in the light.

6. Symbolism • Read: Acquainted with the Night- Robert Frost (page 838) • How is the night used symbolically? • Purpose, Type, Use

7. A Practice in Symbolism • Read: The Black Snake- Mary Oliver (page 848) • How is the death of the snake a “story of endless good fortune?” • Is the snake a conventional or contextual symbol in this poem? Explain your answer. • Read: Buttons-Carl Sandburg (page 849) • What is the symbolic meaning of the buttons? Is the symbolism too spelled out or not? • What effect does the symbol have on the meaning of the poem.

8. Symbolism Practice Read the following poem. Then answer the questions at the bottom of the page. A White Rose by John Boyle O’Reilly The red rose whispers of passion, And the white rose breathes of love; Oh, the red rose is a falcon, And the white rose is a dove. But I send you a cream-white rosebud, With a flush on its petal tips; For the love that is purest and sweetest Has a kiss of desire on the lips. 1. Could the poet have made the white rose a symbol of passion and the red rose a symbol of love? Why not? What effect would there be on the poem if they were switched? 2. In the second stanza, why does the speaker send a rosebud rather than a rose? What effect would there be if the rose was sent instead of the rosebud?

9. Symbolism Practice One Perfect Rose by Dorothy Parker A single flow’r he sent me, since we met. All tenderly his messenger he chose; Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet— One perfect rose. I knew the language of the floweret; “My fragile leaves,” it said, “his heart enclose.” Love long has taken for his amulet One perfect rose. Why is it no one ever sent me yet One perfect limousine, do you suppose? Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get One perfect rose. 1.What is the effect of Parker’s humor in the third stanza? How does it change the symbolism of the rose? 2.What is an amulet (second stanza)? How is the rose symbolic of the amulet? Compare/Contrast the symbolism within A White Rose and One Perfect Rose. Which poem, do you feel, the symbolism has the greatest effect on the poem? Explain your answer. (200 word minimum)

10. Allegory • Narration or description usually restricted to a single meaning because its events, actions, characters, settings and objects represent specific abstractions or ideas. • Emphasis is on the ultimate meaning. • The literal elements of the allegory are de-emphasized in favor of the message. • Allegory lends itself to Didactic poetry(poetry designed to teach a moral , ethical or religious lesson).

11. All that Time- May Swenson Read: All that Time by May Swenson (handout) • Identify the allegorical meaning of the poem. • How does the allegorical meaning have an effect on the poem in general? • Could this poem be considered a Didactic Poem, if so how does the allegory lend itself to the poem? (100 word minimum)

12. The Haunted Palace-Edgar Allan Poe • Read: The Haunted Palace by Poe pg. 840-42 • Identify the allegorical meaning of the poem. • How does the allegorical meaning have an effect on the poem in general? Could this poem be considered a Didactic Poem, if so how does the allegory lend itself to the poem?(100 word minimum)