Symbol: Something concrete that stands for something abstract. A symbol may be a person, place, thing, or action. It may stand for an idea, belief, feeling, or attitude.

***A symbol keeps its own meaning while also standing for something else.

Things aren’t always what they seem…..

Symbolism

Colors

Red WhitePurple

BlackYellow BLUE

What’s up with green?

Symbolism

“This rose,” said Dr. Heidegger, with a sigh, “the same withered and crumbling flower, blossomed five and fifty years ago. It was given to me by Sylvia Ward……Five and fifty years it has been treasured between the leaves of this old volume. Now, would you deem it possible that this rose of half a century could ever bloom again?” He uncovered the vase, and threw the faded rose into the water which it contained…….. The crushed and dried petals stirred…… and there was the rose of half a century, looking fresh as when Sylvia Ward had first given it to her lover. As they struggled to and fro, the table was overturned, and the vase dashed into a thousand pieces. “My poor Sylvia’s rose…….it seems to be fading again…..I love it well thus as in its dewy freshness,” observed he, pressing the withered rose to his withered lips.

Symbolism Passage from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Dr. Heigdegger’s Experiment.”

The rose probably symbolizes what in this story?

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.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost: