Function of Symbols
in Poetry

Learn to identify symbols in poems and explain how they function to create deeper layers of meaning beyond the literal surface.

AP English Literature

What Is a Symbol?

A symbol is a concrete object, image, or action in a poem that represents something beyond its literal meaning. Unlike a sign, which has a fixed, one-to-one correspondence, a symbol carries multiple layers of association that shift depending on context.

Two Layers of Meaning

Every symbol operates on both layers simultaneously. The literal image grounds the reader in something tangible, while the symbolic layer opens a doorway to abstract ideas. Your job as a reader is to explain how the symbol functions: what it represents and why the poet chose it.

Why Symbols Matter in Poetry

Compression

A single image can carry an entire argument or emotional arc that would take paragraphs to state directly.

Resonance

Symbols tap into shared cultural or emotional associations, creating connections between the reader's experience and the poem.

Ambiguity

Unlike direct statement, symbols allow multiple interpretations to coexist, enriching the poem's complexity and inviting re-reading.

The Symbol Analysis Framework

Types of Symbols

Conventional

Widely recognized across cultures: darkness for ignorance, light for knowledge, water for purification or change.

Literary

Symbols that gain meaning through literary tradition: the journey as self-discovery, the garden as lost innocence.

Contextual

Symbols created by a specific poem's internal logic: an image that becomes symbolic only through repetition, emphasis, or juxtaposition within the text.

Symbol vs. Motif vs. Allegory

	Symbol	Motif	Allegory
Definition	Image representing an abstract idea	Recurring element creating a pattern	Extended metaphor where the entire narrative = a second meaning
Scope	A single image or object	Repeated across the whole text	The entire work or large section
Meaning	Multiple, open-ended	Reinforces theme by repetition	One-to-one correspondences
Example	Frost's "two roads"	Blood imagery in Macbeth	Orwell's Animal Farm

How to Analyze a Symbol

1

Spot the image. Look for objects, settings, or actions that receive unusual emphasis: repetition, detailed description, or placement at key structural moments (opening, closing, volta).

2

Read the context. Examine the words surrounding the image. What connotations do the adjectives, verbs, and sensory details add? How does the tone shift around the symbol?

3

Propose a meaning. Connect the image to an abstract idea (freedom, death, hope, isolation). Ask: what does this image do in the poem that a direct statement would not?

4

Explain the function. Write a claim: "The [image] symbolizes [idea], which functions to [develop theme / shift tone / characterize the speaker] by [specific evidence]."

Example: Frost's "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; : Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken" (1916)

Example: Dickinson's "Hope"

"Hope" is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - : Emily Dickinson, "'Hope' is the thing with feathers" (c. 1861)

Example: Keats's "To Autumn"

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; : John Keats, "To Autumn" (1819)

Tracking a Symbol's Evolution

Strong AP essays show how a symbol changes meaning as the poem progresses. Track the symbol across structural sections:

Signals an Image Is Symbolic

1

Repetition: The image appears multiple times, accumulating weight and significance with each return.

2

Structural emphasis: Placed at the title, opening, closing, or at a volta (turn) where meaning pivots.

3

Disproportionate detail: Described with more sensory language or emotional intensity than a purely literal reading would warrant.

4

Contrast or juxtaposition: Placed alongside its opposite (light/darkness, bloom/decay), suggesting a meaning beyond the literal.

5

Cultural resonance: Invokes an image with deep traditional associations (seasons, water, fire, roads, mirrors).

Writing About Symbols on the AP Exam

✓ Strong Claim

"The fading garden in Plath's poem symbolizes the speaker's diminishing sense of self, functioning to externalize an internal emotional collapse."

✕ Weak Claim

"The garden represents sadness." (Too vague: no context, no function, no evidence from the text.)

Common Mistakes

✕ Over-Symbolizing

Treating every single image as symbolic. Not everything in a poem is a symbol: sometimes a tree is just a tree. Look for textual evidence of deeper meaning.

✕ Fixed Meanings

Assigning a universal meaning regardless of context ("water always means rebirth"). Symbols shift meaning based on the specific poem's language and structure.

✕ Skipping Function

Naming a symbol and its meaning but never explaining how it works in the poem: why the poet chose this image, what effect it creates.

Question 1 of 5

Excerpt from William Blake's "The Tyger":

"Tyger Tyger, burning bright, / In the forests of the night; / What immortal hand or eye, / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"

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In Blake's poem, the Tyger most likely functions as a symbol for:

The "burning bright" imagery, "fearful symmetry," and questions about what "immortal hand" could create such a being all point to the Tyger as a symbol for the terrifying, awe-inspiring power of creation: how could a benevolent God create something so dangerous and beautiful? The poem explores the tension between creation and destruction.

Question 2 of 5

Which of the following best distinguishes a symbol from an allegory?

The defining distinction is scope and meaning type. A symbol is a single image that carries multiple, open-ended associations. An allegory is an extended framework in which each element corresponds to one specific abstract meaning, spanning the whole work.

Question 3 of 5

Excerpt from Langston Hughes's "Harlem":

"What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun? / Or fester like a sore: / And then run?"

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The images of a "raisin in the sun" and a "festering sore" function primarily to:

Hughes uses concrete images of physical deterioration (drying, festering, rotting) to symbolize what happens when dreams are suppressed. The function is to make an abstract social injustice viscerally felt by the reader, developing a tone of urgency and warning.

Question 4 of 5

A student writes: "The ocean in the poem symbolizes sadness." What is the primary weakness of this analysis?

The statement is too vague to earn AP credit. A strong analysis must explain what specific aspect of the ocean is emphasized (its depth? its restlessness? its vastness?), how the poem's language frames it, and what function the symbol serves in developing the poem's theme, tone, or speaker.

Question 5 of 5

Excerpt from Sylvia Plath's "Mirror":

"Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me, / Searching my reaches for what she really is. / Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. / I see her back, and reflect it faithfully. / She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands."

▼ Tap to read passage

In Plath's poem, the mirror/lake symbol functions primarily to:

The mirror/lake claims to be "not cruel, only truthful," and is contrasted with "those liars, the candles or the moon," which offer flattering light. The woman's tears reveal that the mirror symbolizes uncompromising self-knowledge. Its function is to dramatize the painful gap between how we wish to see ourselves and how we truly are, developing themes of aging, truth, and self-deception.

Function of Symbolsin Poetry

What Is a Symbol?

Two Layers of Meaning

Why Symbols Matter in Poetry

The Symbol Analysis Framework

Types of Symbols

Symbol vs. Motif vs. Allegory

How to Analyze a Symbol

Example: Frost's "The Road Not Taken"

Example: Dickinson's "Hope"

Example: Keats's "To Autumn"

Tracking a Symbol's Evolution

Signals an Image Is Symbolic

Writing About Symbols on the AP Exam

Common Mistakes

Question 1 of 5

Question 2 of 5

Question 3 of 5

Question 4 of 5

Question 5 of 5

Function of Symbols
in Poetry