[Lav]

Fellow milanistas i am in dire need of help

im doing hmwk and i have to do some crap on symbolsim, i have it all done but one part this is where u guys come in

I need a short example of symbolism from literature
any form of symbolism, but one that can be understood by the average universtiy student taking english in their first year

any literature will do...but hurry guys cause time is short!


Lav

 

[Rosso]

Any of the following have great symbolism:

Marcel Proust - Rememberance of Things Past
Oscar Wilde - Portrait of Dorian Gray
HG Wells - Time Machine
George Orwell - Animal Farm

Taking Animal Farm for example, the animals are merely examples of the different cultures and races here on earth. You could talk about how Orwell's vision of the ultimate demise or salvation (depending on your perspective) of the farm is really his vision for our destiny as people.

There are literally thousands of stories and poems with great examples of symbolism. Perhaps you could be more detailed in what you're looking for.

 

[Lav]

Well rosso, i agree there are hundreds out there

but the thing is i need an example of symbolsim in a paragraph not a whole novel


Lav

 

[Debs]

a line of poetry...her lips were like a red, red rose....I beleive that is a simile....

 

[Rosso]

Symbolism in a paragraph. That's a bit tougher. If a poem (or a paragraph within a poem) will work this one might do the trick:
It's by Robert Frost. Pick any paragraph; they're all loaded with symbolism. You could talk about the roads, his description of their condition, etc.

The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot also jumps to mind as a poem chock full of symbolism.

The Road Not Taken
---------------------------
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.

Robert Frost (1874 - 1963)

 

[Lav]

Rosso, molto grazie!

Lav