1. How does a reader interpret symbolism in poetry?
Identify flashback, foreshadowing, and symbolism within context. SPI
How does a reader interpret symbolism in poetry?

2. Activator On the next slide we will look at three different pictures.
What do these pictures represent, or symbolize?
You will need to THINK!!!

3. What does this symbolize?
Activator
What does this symbolize?
And this?
And this?

4. Think About It
What are some other concepts or ideas that could easily be represented by a symbol?

5. What is Symbolism?
A symbol is something that stands for itself, but also something larger than itself.
It may be a person, an animal, an inanimate object, or an action.

6. What is Symbolism?
A writer often uses a concrete object to express an abstract idea, a quality, or a belief.
A symbol may appeal to a reader's emotions and can provide a way to express an idea, communicate a message, or clarify meaning.

7. What is Symbolism?
A conventional symbol is one that is widely accepted and used by many writers; for example, a nightingale is a symbol for melancholy, a dove for peace, a rose for love and beauty, spring for life, and winter for death.

8. What is Symbolism?
A private symbol is one that an individual writer creates for a particular work of literature.

9. Strategies for Identifying Symbolism
First, ask these two questions:
"Is some person, place, animal, object, or action emphasized in the work?”
“Is that person, place, animal, object, or action repeatedly mentioned to the point that it seems to mean more that itself?”
If so,
“What else could it stand for besides itself?”

10. Think About It
How do I identify symbolism in a text?

11. Let’s Practice!
Using your notes and what you know, let’s decide what symbolism these pieces of writing have.

12. THE ROAD NOT TAKEN by Robert Frost (1874-1963)
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,

13. THE ROAD NOT TAKEN by Robert Frost (1874-1963)
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.

14. As a Group… What is the symbolism in this poem? Justify your answer.
Is this a conventional or private symbol?

15. The Lightning is a Yellow Fork Emily Dickinson
From Tables in the sky
By inadvertent fingers dropt
The awful Cutlery
Of mansions never quite disclosed
And never quite concealed
The Apparatus of the Dark
To ignorance revealed.

16. In Pairs…. What is the symbolism in this poem? Justify your answer.
Is this a conventional or private symbol?

17. Mother to Son by Langston Hughes
Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor -- Bare. But all the time I'se been a-climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners, And sometimes goin' in the dark Where there ain't been no light.

18. Mother to Son by Langston Hughes
So boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. Don't you fall now -- For I'se still goin', honey, I'se still climbin', And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

19. On Your Own…. What is the symbolism in this poem? Justify your answer.
Is this a conventional or private symbol?

20. POWER QUESTIONS

21. Power Questions
1. Which words from the poem best describe a symbolic meaning of the clay?
A.No directions
B.Silent hands
C.unshaped dreams
D.lacking ambition

22. Power Questions
1. Which words from the poem best describe a symbolic meaning of the clay?
A.No directions
B.Silent hands
C.unshaped dreams
D.lacking ambition

23. Summarizer 3-2-1 List three conventional symbols
List two private symbols
List one way to identify a symbol

24. Assignment Write a 6-8 line poem that has symbolism in it.
It doesn’t have to rhyme, though it can have any rhyme scheme.