1. POETRY SYMBOL - ALLEGORY

2. The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth. Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same. And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. --Robert Frost

3. SYMBOL: from the Greek meaning “to throw together” and “mark-emblem-token-sign” something that means more than what it is; an object, animate or inanimate, which represents or “stands for” something else suggests a great variety of specific meanings; meanings “ray out” from a symbol the richest & most difficult of the poetic figures, resulting from its imprecision

4. IMAGE, METAPHOR, & SYMBOL IMAGE: means what it is; single sense experience METAPHOR: means something else; comparison; represents single thing; closed & specific SYMBOL: means what it is & something else too; represent multiple ideas; open & general

5. The Sick Rose O Rose, thou art sick! The invisible worm That flies in the night, In the howling storm, Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy, And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy. --William Blake

6. INTERPRETING SYMBOLISM A symbol defines an area of meaning and any interpretation that falls within that are is permissible. We should never assume that because the meaning of a symbol is more or less open, we may make it mean anything we choose. Whatever our interpretation of a symbolic poem, it must be tied firmly to the facts of the poem. Accurate interpretation of the symbol requires delicacy, tact, and good sense. The reader must maintain balance while walking a tightrope between too little and too much—between under interpretation and overinterpretation. If the reader falls off, however, it is much more desirable to fall off on the side of too little. We should avoid the disease of seeing symbols everywhere, like a person with hallucinations, whether there are symbols there or not; it is better to miss a symbol now and then than to walk constantly among shadows and mirages.

7. ALLEGORY: a story in verse or prose with a double meaning: a primary surface meaning and a secondary or under-the-surface meaning  A system of comparisons rather than one comparison  Differs from symbolism in that it puts less emphasis on the images for their own sake and more on their ulterior meanings and the meanings are more fixed; meanings do not ray out from allegory as they do from symbols –Example: the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is an allegory for redemption and salvation –Example: Moby-Dick is an allegory for man’s quest to understand his existence

8. ALLEGORY SYMBOL METAPHOR SYMBOL METAPHOR SYMBOL