As a middle school English teacher, I have spent numerous hours reading novels, short stories, poems, and more with my students. We read for content, meaning, literary devices, themes, and many other reasons.
Every time we read a new piece of Literature, we attempt to discern its moral, central message, or research topic.
You’ve come to the correct place if, like many of my students, you’ve struggled to grasp an abstract concept like symbolism. If you continue reading, you will be able to comprehend the following guidelines for writing an essay on symbolism:
Defining symbolism.
The various types of symbolism.
The significance of symbolism in Literature
Components of a symbolism essay.
What is a Symbolism Essay
In brief, symbolism is the literary device that refers to words, colors, objects, people, places, or ideas that signify a concept beyond themselves.
If you’ve ever read “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, try to recall how often he mentions the color green. Green is commonly associated with greed and wealth. In the story, green signifies the protagonist’s notion that he must gain and retain a vast fortune to win the heart of his love interest.
Symbolism requires readers to identify the relationship between recurrent items, colors, words, etc., and their intended meaning. Consider whether green is simply a descriptive adjective that changes a noun. Or is there more to consider? If, as a reader, you can assign extra meaning to a repeated element, you have likely detected symbolism.
In this informative video, a lecturer from Oregon State University demonstrates how to discern symbolism in Literature.
He provides helpful examples to assist you, and other students detect repeated objects that are likely symbolic.
How to Write a Symbolism Essay
Analysis of the literary devices employed by the author is one of the various methods for determining a work’s meaning. When we reach our study of symbols, students like you need help grasping symbolism’s overall concept. Nevertheless, individually detecting and evaluating a passage’s symbolism might be mind-boggling.
The American flag is one of the simplest and most accessible images I use to teach symbolism. On a navy blue background is a rectangular fabric with red and white stripes and stars.
Symbolically, though, the flag has much greater significance. It symbolizes our freedom, patriotism, the original thirteen colonies, the fifty states, liberty, justice, and independence from Great Britain, among other things.
So simple, right? You get it exactly as my students get it! However, they need help to apply the concept of identifying symbolism in Literature.
To help my students recognize symbolism, I have visited countless online forums, blogs, university websites, and other resources in search of strategies to clarify the notion. As with any other project, you must be willing to make the necessary effort to conceptualize symbols.
To be an effective symbol analyst, you must fully comprehend what a symbol is. Therefore, let’s start where I begin with my students: by defining symbolism. I will next explain how to write a symbolism essay. Check Nursing Writing Services symbolic interactionism essay topics.
3 Types of Symbolism in Literature
Although our definition of symbolism has not changed over time, the varieties of symbolism employed by writers have. Consequently, the three most prevalent types of symbolism are as follows:
1. Religious Symbolism
Religious symbolism refers to objects or concepts with sacred, spiritual, or holy meaning. For example, in Christianity, the Crucifix is the wooden cross on which Jesus Christ sacrificed his life, but it also symbolizes God’s sacrifice for the salvation of humanity.
In Buddhism, a Lotus is both a beautiful flower and a symbol of Buddha’s enlightenment and a Buddhist’s spiritual development.
Throughout history, writers have utilized religious symbols to hint at the conflicts, situations, etc., that characters face during a story.
In William Golding’s “The Lord of the Flies,” for instance, the location, a utopian island with temptation at every turn, represents the Garden of Eden. Like the lads on the island, who cannot control their urges in the absence of social order, the absence of authority in the Garden of Eden leaves its inhabitants to their own devices. Read our symbolic interactionism essay.
2. Romantic Symbolism
Romantic symbolism refers to artifacts associated with displays of affection. Love has been the subject of numerous novels and poems. Romantic symbols are those objects, words, colors, etc., that represent and signify love in an iconic manner.
In “Sonnet 130” by Shakespeare, for example, the speaker compares his mistress’s cheeks to the color of a rose and her aroma to the fragrance of a rose. Red roses are popularly recognized as a symbol of love; by the speaker’s comparison of his mistress to a rose, the reader realizes, although it is not explicitly stated, that the rose symbolizes his love for her. Therefore, romantic symbolism. Check also our color symbolism essay.
3. Emotional Symbolism
Good authors utilize figurative language to convey the emotions and feelings of their characters without directly stating them. In doing so, Literature becomes interesting and amusing.
Emotional symbols represent distinct sentiments. As in the Black Lives Matter Movement, when someone raises a clenched fist, it signifies political unity. The fist is merely a fist, but depending on the context in which it is raised, it can have a far deeper meaning. Read our symbolism essay examples.
What is the effect of symbolism in Literature?
Rarely are fictional stories made solely for the entertainment of the reader. Good fiction authors teach a lesson or moral or re-create an important conflict from which you, the reader, are called upon to recognize the significance, as your literature professors have likely taught you.
Authors construct meanings that transcend the prosaic by employing literary elements such as symbolism. Symbols disclose and illustrate themes, teachings, morals, and significance more effectively than words alone.
When you read “When Grizzlies Walked Upright,” a Modoc Indian origin story, you are expected to learn the significance of obeying your parents. The story’s symbolism conveys a deeper meaning than if the author stated, “It’s important to obey your parents.”
Read also: how to begin a symbolism essay.
Symbolism Essay Components and What to Include
So, what exactly is a symbolism analysis essay? How to write a symbolism essay? One of the most effective ways to understand symbolism is to analyze it in the context of the texts you read.
Since the time of cave paintings and hieroglyphics, symbolism has been a popular literary element among authors. The more skilled you are at spotting symbolism, the better you will understand the text and the more proficient a reader you will become.
The body of a symbolism essay examines and analyzes specific symbols as they appear in the text. When identifying the symbol(s), it is necessary to describe the author’s intent.
As the essayist, you must consider why the author felt it necessary to use particular symbols, what they wish to convey or expose, and what you, the reader, were expected to glean from the symbol(s) in question.
Similar to when a writer chooses to use profanity in their writing. What is the objective? What does the particular curse word contribute to the text’s meaning? Would the passage have the same impact if the swear word were removed?
Similarly to how you may question the author’s decision to add curse words, which I explore here, the author’s choice of symbols to further engage you is deliberate.
Symbolism analysis is a process. This approach begins with identifying a symbol in the book.
After reading a section, consider whether an overarching theme stood out. If so, does it occur again? Could it have a deeper significance?
Consider whether an object catches your attention as other recognized meanings. If not, please assign the thing a logical and reasonable meaning. If so, you have detected symbolism in the text effectively.
Shaelin of “Shaelin Writes” outlines how to determine the symbolic meaning of significant and recurrent items, colors, words, etc., in this outstanding symbolism summary.
Next, it is essential to consider the symbol’s effect or function. What is the author attempting to communicate? What is the author aiming to demonstrate instead of telling?
“Word Ink” bloggers Gannon Daniels and Vanessa Ziff Lasdon elegantly summarize the goal of symbolism when they state, “In the best literature, symbols are unexpected and unique to the character, yet absolutely rational and carefully chosen by the author to elicit several levels of meaning.”
Finalize your analysis with a well-organized paragraph in which you identify the symbol in a topic sentence, explain the symbol’s meaning, and provide textual evidence demonstrating how the symbol is used in the context of the passage; make these explanations in the sentences that follow the topic sentence. Complete your paragraph with a conclusion sentence that ties back to the paragraph’s topic sentence.
In certain forms of writing, you should examine alternative ways. Similar to when you write a narrative literature review, as I explain here, there are numerous formats from which to choose. However, the five-paragraph format is optimal for a symbolism essay.
Generally, the five-paragraph essay format works well for symbolism essays. Introduce the text and your topic in the symbolism essay introduction; next, in each body paragraph, find and analyze a unique manifestation of the symbol; and, finally, the symbolism essay conclusion.
Conclusion
Symbolism is a literary method or figurative language that requires the reader to derive deeper meaning from things, ideas, words, etc.
In Literature, authors utilize symbols to demonstrate rather than tell readers something.
A symbolism essay assists readers in identifying and analyzing symbols according to their intended meaning and purpose. In addition to providing beneficial information on how to write a symbolism essay, this post also assists teachers in selecting the best plagiarism checker.
Also Read: How to Write a Book Review
