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1. Literary Symbolism A symbol usually conveys an abstraction or cluster of abstractions, from the ideal to the imperceptible or the irrational, in a more concrete form. A symbol in a work of literature compares or puts together two things that are in some ways dissimilar. But literary symbolism rarely comes down to a simple equation of one thing to another. Unlike an arbitrary symbol such as a letter or traffic sign, a symbol in literature usually carries richer and more varied meanings, as does a flag or a religious image.
2. Archetype literary elements that recur in the literature and myths of multiple cultures. Fire, water, a flower, or a tree can all be considered archetypes because numerous cultures use them symbolically, often within their system of religion or myth. Literary symbolism frequently borrows from the symbols and archetypes associated with religion or myth.
3. Allegory
Allegory: an “extended” symbol or series of symbols that encompasses a whole work. In an allegory, concrete things and abstract concepts may be associated with each other across a narrative that consistently maintains at least two distinct levels of meaning. Because allegories set up series of correspondences, they usually help the reader translate these correspondences through the use of names that readily function as labels, often with obvious moral implications.
4. Myth When an entire story is allegorical or symbolic, it is sometimes called a myth. Myth originally referred to a story of communal origin that provided an explanation or religious interpretation of humanity, nature, the universe, or the relations among them. Sometimes we apply the term myth to stories associated with religions we do not believe in, and sometimes to literature that seeks to express experiences or truths that transcend any one location, culture, or time. 5. Figures of Speech Figures of speech, or figurative language, are similar to symbols in that they supplement or replace literal meaning, often by creating imaginative connections between our ideas and our senses. Sometimes referred to as tropes (literally, “turnings”), figures of speech could be described as bending the usual meaning of language and shaping our response to a work. 6. Key Figures of Speech allegory an extended association, often sustained in every element (character, plot, setting, etc.) and throughout an entire work, between two levels of meaning, usually literal and abstract. In Animal Farm (1945), for example, George Orwell uses an uprising of barnyard animals as an allegory for the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. allusion a reference, usually brief, to another text or some person or entity external to the work. Examples may range from a direct quotation of the Bible to the mention of a famous name.
irony a meaning or outcome contrary to what is expected; in verbal irony, a speaker or narrator says one thing and means the reverse. When the intended meaning is harshly critical or mocking, it is called sarcasm. If a teenager says, “I just love it when my mom lectures me,” she may well be using irony. metaphor a representation of one thing as if it were something else, without a verbal signal such as like or as. When Scout, in "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1960), remarks that she “inched sluggishly along the treadmill of the Maycob County school system,” she doesn’t indicate what literally happened at school. She figuratively suggests how it felt by implicitly comparing the experience to being on a treadmill.
metonymy using the name of one thing to refer to another thing associated with it. The common phrase red tape is a metonym for excessive paperwork and procedure that slows down an official transaction, based on the fact that papers used to be tied up with red tape.
oxymoron a combination of contradictory or opposite ideas, qualities, or entities, as in wise fool. personification sometimes called anthropomorphism, attributing human qualities to objects or animals. In "The Open Boat," Stephen Crane personifies the birds who “sat comfortably in groups” and looked at the men with “unblinking scrutiny.” He pushes personification to comic extreme in the shipwrecked men’s thoughts: “If this old ninny- woman, Fate, cannot do better than this [. . .] she is an old hen who knows not her intention.” Here, “hen” is a metaphor for a silly woman, who in turn personifies the idea of destiny or fate.
simile a represen tation of one thing as if it were something else, with an explicit verbal signal such as like or as. In "To Kill a Mockingbird," Scout describes a teacher who “looked and smelled like a peppermint drop” and bored students “wriggling like a bucket of Catawba worms.” symbol a person, place, object, or image that represents more than its literal meaning. A symbol is more than a passing comparison (such as a simile); instead, as in allegory, its meaning usually relates to most details and themes of the work. Unlike allegory, a symbol usually associates more than two entities or ideas and may be obscure or ambiguous in its meaning. Short stories (or poems) may refer to their central symbolic figure in the title, as in "Cathedral."
synecdoche a form of metonymy (or name substitution) in which the part represents the whole (a sail refers to a ship).
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