![]() ![]() You’ve read it in poems and stories as well as creative nonfiction works, like personal essays and blog posts. Symbolism is used in every kind of creative writing. Including symbolism in your writing doesn’t mean you have to “swap out” literal descriptions it often enhances these literal descriptions. Notice how this second sentence still includes a literal description of how the ring reminded him of his commitment. The second sentence uses the circle’s symbolism to build on the character’s reflection on his marriage. It reminded him of his never-ending commitment to his marriage. He looked at his wedding ring, noticing its perfectly circular shape. ![]() ![]() He looked at his wedding ring and was reminded of his commitment to his marriage.Symbolism is used when literal language isn’t strong enough to express what the author needs to express. When this is the case, you might only recognize the symbolism on a second read-through, once you know how the story ends. It can also be so subtle that you miss it. Symbolism can be obvious to the point of feeling too obvious, like naming an evil character Nick DeVille and describing his hairstyle as being reminiscent of horns. This could be symbolic of that character’s jealousy. For example, a character might be described as having piercing green eyes that fixate on others. It might be repeated or seem somewhat jarring, as if the author is intentionally pointing it out (and they might be-though authors don’t always do this). You can recognize symbolism when an image in a piece of text seems to indicate something other than its literal meaning. Otherwise, symbolism is often worked into a story or other type of creative work that’s meant to be read literally. Animal Farm by George Orwell is one of the most well-known modern allegories. When an entire work is symbolic, it’s known as an allegory. Literary devices are the techniques writers use to communicate ideas and themes beyond what they can express literally. In fact, some other literary devices, like metaphor and allegory, are often considered to be types of symbolism. In a way, symbolism (and certain other literary devices, like personification and imagery) illustrates a piece of writing by creating pictures in the reader’s mind. Symbolism is one of the many literary devices writers use to make their work more vivid. In other cases, symbolism is used to communicate details about a character, setting, or plot point, such as a black cat being used to symbolize a character’s bad luck. In some cases, symbolism is broad and used to communicate a work’s theme, like Aslan the lion in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a symbol of Christ. Symbolism is the use of words or images to symbolize specific concepts, people, objects, or events. Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Write with Grammarly What is symbolism in writing, and how does it work? ![]()
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