Symbolism is something that represents something else. Symbolism can enhance writing, especially in poems, and sometimes can be representing different things.

Symbolism in Poetry

A rainbow symbolizes hope and good things that are coming in William Wordsworth's "My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold":

My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky

Spring and daisies means youth in Sara Teasdale's "Wild Asters":

In the spring, I asked the daisies

If his words were true,

And the clever, clear-eyed daisies

Always knew.

Brown and barren means growing old in Sara Teasdale's "Wild Asters":

Now the fields are brown and barren,

Bitter autumn blows,

Bitter autumn means death in Sara Teasdale's "Wild Asters":

Now the fields are brown and barren,

Bitter autumn blows,

And of all the stupid asters

Not one knows.

The moon to represents fatigue, loneliness, useless labor and unrequited love in Percy Bysshe Shelley's "To the Moon":

Art thou pale for weariness

Of climbing heaven, and gazing on the earth,

Wandering companionless

Among the stars that have a different birth,-

And ever-changing, like a joyless eye

That finds no object worth its constancy?

A ferry shows dying in A. E. Housman's "XXIII"

Crossing alone the nighted ferry

With the one coin for fee,

Whom, on the wharf of Lethe waiting,

Count you to find? Not me

A river shows memories lost in A. E. Housman's "XXIII"

Crossing alone the nighted ferry

With the one coin for fee,

Whom, on the wharf of Lethe waiting,

Count you to find? Not me.

A withered leaf symbolizes aging in The Archpoet's "His Confession"

I am of one element,

Levity my matter,

Like enough a withered leaf

For the winds to scatter.

Winds symbolize unpredictable, destructive power of nature in The Archpoet's "His Confession":

I am of one element,

Levity my matter,

Like enough a withered leaf

For the winds to scatter.

Light represents hope for a better life or happiness in Emily Dickinson's "A light exists in Spring":

A light exists in Spring

Not present on the year

At any other period-

When March is scarcely here

Children's house of make-believe means Christianity in Robert Frost's "Directive":

First there's the children's house of make-believe,

Some shattered dishes underneath a pine,

The playthings in the playhouse of the children.

Weep for what little things could make them glad.

Sunflowers symbolize people in William Blake's "Ah Sunflower"

Ah Sunflower, weary of time,

Who countest the steps of the sun;

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the traveler's journey is done;

The sun symbolizes life in William Blake's "Ah Sunflower"

Ah Sunflower, weary of time,

Who countest the steps of the sun;

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the traveler's journey is done;

Lone and level sands show the destructiveness of nature and time in Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ozymandias":

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Shattered dishes refer to losing faith in Robert Frost's "Directive":

First there's the children's house of make-believe,

Some shattered dishes underneath a pine,

The playthings in the playhouse of the children.

Weep for what little things could make them glad.

I stole the goblet from the children's playhouse symbolizes a heretic rejecting his faith in Robert Frost's "Directive":

I have kept hidden in the instep arch

Of an old cedar at the waterside

A broken drinking goblet like the Grail

Under a spell so the wrong ones can't find it,

So can't get saved, as Saint Mark says they mustn't.

(I stole the goblet from the children's playhouse.)

Chimney sweepers show child labor in William Blake's "London":

How the Chimney-sweeper's cry

Every blackning Church appalls,

And the hapless Soldier's sigh

Runs in blood down Palace walls.

Runs in blood down palace walls shows men that die for rulers who do not care in William Blake's "London":

How the Chimney-sweeper's cry

Every blackning Church appalls,

And the hapless Soldier's sigh

Runs in blood down Palace walls.

Chart'd" streets and rivers represent the power of chartered banks and investment firms over the common people in William Blake's "London":

I wander thro' each charter'd street,

Near where the charter'd Thames does flow,

Mind-forg'd manacles represent the oppressiveness of government and religion in William Blake's "London":

In every cry of every Man,

In every Infant's cry of fear,

In every voice, in every ban,

The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.

Now that you have seen these examples within poetry, you can also check out more Examples of Symbolism.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"Examples of Symbolism in Poetry." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 10 December 2018. <https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-symbolism-in-poetry.html>.

APA Style

Examples of Symbolism in Poetry. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10th, 2018, from https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-symbolism-in-poetry.html

Do you have a good example to share? Add your example here.

comments powered by Disqus

Examples of Symbolism in Poetry

By YourDictionary

Symbolism is something that represents something else. Symbolism can enhance writing, especially in poems, and sometimes can be representing different things.