Poetry - Symbol and Allegory

Terms Related to Poetry – Symbol and Allegory

Symbol –

something that is what it is and also represents something else

Universal symbols (archetypes) –

symbols that seem to be part of the human psyche which are generally accepted across time and culture such as the Old Man representing experience and wisdom or the Grim Reaper representing death.

Archetypal images –

images that are generally accepted as representing something such as the Statue of Liberty representing freedom and opportunity.

Conventional symbols –

symbols with a generally understood meaning across cultures with similar usages such as the various road signs or even computer icons.

Literary symbols –

symbols that are used within a piece of literature to represent a person, object, or situation in that piece of literature such as pink ribbons representing the purity and innocence of a character who is wearing them.

Allegory –

a pattern of using symbols to tell a story in a story

Allegorical figures –

the symbolic character representing something in an allegory such as the character Faith representing religious faith in “Young Goodman Brown”

Allegorical framework –

the overall organization of an allegory

Figurative level –

the non-literal level; the place where the story behind the story is told