Definition of Symbolism

GENRE DEFINITION

Genre is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or entertainment, e.g. music, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions.

Collage #1

Try to share all the ideas you can get from this collage

Symbolism

A symbol is the use of a concrete object to represent an abstract idea. The word symbol is derived from the Greek verb “symballein” which means “to put together and the related noun “symbolon” which means “mark”, “taken” or “sign”. The term, symbol, when used in literature is often a figure of speech in which a person, object, or situation represent something in addition to its literal meaning. Conventional or traditional literary symbols work in much the same way, and because they have a previously agreed upon meaning, they can be used to suggest ideas more universal than the physical aspect itself. A symbol may appear in a work of literature in a number of different ways to suggest a number of different things. Most commonly, a symbol will present itself in the form of 1) a word, 2)a figure of speech, 3) an event, 4) the total action, or 5) a character.

Some examples of symbolism are:

I. COLORS

Red : immoral; the color of the life principle, blood, passion, emotion, danger, or daring;often associated with fire
Black : seen as a cold and negative aspect suggesting passivity, death, ignorance, or evil; black hens are used in witchcraft as are black cats
White : innocence, life, light, purity, or enlightenment
Green : inexperience, hope; new life, immaturity; a combination of blue and yellow, itmediates between heat and cold and high and low; it is a comforting, refreshing humancolor; it is the color of plant life
Yellow : rotting, heat, decay, violence, decrepitude, old age, and the approach of death
Blue : cool, calm, peaceful; an insubstantial color in the real world except as translucency,the void of heavens
Pink : innocence, femininity
Purple : royalty, bruising or pain
Brown : a color somewhere between russet and black; it is the color of earth and ploughedland and soil, it represents humility and poverty
Orange : symbolizes the point of balance between the spirit and the libido; it may be theemblem of divine love or extreme lust
Violet : composed of red and blue, it is the color of temperance, clarity of mind

LITERATURE


          Literature (from Latin litterae (plural); letter) is the art of written work, and is not confined to published sources (although, under some circumstances, unpublished sources can also be exempt). The word literature literally means "things made from letters" and the pars pro toto term "letters" is sometimes used to signify "literature," as in the figures of speech "arts and letters" and "man of letters." The four major classifications of literature are poetry, prose, fiction, and non-fiction.

          Literature may comprise of texts based on factual information (journalistic or non-fiction), as well as on original imagination, such as polemical works as well as autobiography, and reflective essays as well as belles-lettres. Literatures can be divided according to historical periods, genres, and political influences. The concept of genre, which earlier was limited, has now broadened over the centuries. A genre consists of artistic works which fall within a certain central theme, and examples of genre include romance, mystery, crime, fantasy, erotica, and adventure, among others. Important historical periods include the 17th Century Shakespearean and Elizabethan times, Middle English, Old English, 19th Century Victorian, the Renaissance, the 18th Century Restoration, and 20th Century Modernism. Important political movements that have influenced literature include feminism, post-colonialism, psychoanalysis, post-structuralism, post-modernism, romanticism and Marxism. Literature is also observed in terms of gender, race and nationality, which include Black writing in America, African writing, Indian writing, Dalit writing, women's writing, and so on.