BLOG #4: SYMBOLISM PART 2

Allusions to words (doublethink), phrases (Big Brother) and objects (a Guy Fawkes mask/red poppies), even weather events (Lear’s storm), historical events (5 November), time (1984) people (Odysseus) places (Xanadu) and music (‘Chariots of Fire,’ ‘Walk the Line’) from another text may add depth to a poem by layering it with the symbolism of the original text’s theme and messages.

However, there are simpler forms of symbolism such as colour symbolism used to indicate various emotions (e.g. green for jealousy, red for anger, yellow for friendship, white for innocence etc.). Colour may be used symbolically to connote aspects of a culture (such as the wealth, health and happiness implied in giving the gift of a red wallet in the Chinese culture, or the use of black armbands in Australian sport to indicate mourning).

Imagery can be rich with symbolic meaning. ‘Grandfather Gum,’ symbolizes the longevity and protective, solid character of a grandfather through the personification of the gum (73). ‘Captain Coach’ is a metaphor symbolizing a father who leads, nurtures and imparts wisdom and values to his children (145). Symbolism can also be used ironically such as in ‘Tower of Weakness’ where this extended metaphor is a form of self-mockery, albeit with a wistful thought in the final stanza that perhaps this condition may not be as negative as it appears (51). (For those with biblical knowledge, this combines with a biblical allusion as well: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. That is why…I delight in weaknesses…for when I am weak, then I am strong.’) Covid as ‘The Calamitous King Corona’ is also used ironically to subvert the power of the virus that thought it would lord it over humanity, but was unable to maintain its absolute power over us (82).

Language alone can build a strong symbolic thread through a poem. Repetition of the word, ‘Thief,’ depicts covid as something that attempted to steal many of our joys (85). In ‘A Suburban Triptych,’ the language of war is used such as ‘sentinels,’ ‘guards,’ ‘no man’s land,’ ‘generals,’ ‘DMZ’ etc., in order to portray suburbia as a cold war battleground where the best we can hope for is a tense standoff (103).

Symbolism is a vital element of every poem and can be incorporated in a myriad of ways that increases the impact on the reader, both consciously as well as sub-consciously, through the power of the literary heritage that is overlaid through both the obvious and the more subtle and complex symbolism being employed.