1、personify the vanishing aristocracy of the South, still maintaining a black servant and being ruthless betrayed by a moneymaking Yankee. Sometimes a part of a characters body or an attribute may convey symbolic meaning, for example, a baleful eye in Edgar Allan Poes “The Tell-Tale Heart.” 4. Symbol
2、used in works of fiction is the symbolic act Another kind of symbol commonly employed in works of fiction is the symbolic act: an act or a gesture with larger significance than its literal meaning. Captain Ahab in Melvilles Moby-Dick deliberately snaps his tobacco pipe and throws it away before sett
3、ing out in pursuit of the huge whale, a gesture suggesting that he is determined to take his revenge and will let nothing to distract him from it. Another typical symbolic act is the burning of the barn by the boys father in Faulkners “Barn Burning”: it is an act of no mere destroying a barn, but an
4、 expression of his profound spite and hatred towards that class of people who have driven his family out of his land. His hatred extends to anything he does not possess himself and, beyond that, burning a barn reflects the fathers memories of the “waste and extravagance of war” and the “element of f
5、ire spoke to some deep mainspring” in his being. 5. A symbol is a trope In a broad literary sense, a symbol is a trope that combines a literal and sensuous quality with an necessary or suggestive aspect. However, in literary criticism it is necessary to distinguish symbol from image, metaphor, and,
6、especially, allegory. An image An image is a literal and concrete representation of a sensory experience or of an object that can be known by one or more of the senses. It is the means by which experience in its richness and emotional complexity is communicated. (Holman and Harmon, A Handbook to Lit
7、erature, 1986) Images may be literal or figurative, a literal image being one that involves no necessary change or extension in the obvious meaning of the words. Prose works are usually full of this kind of image. For example, novels and stories by Conard and Hemingway are noted for the evocative po
8、wer of their literal images. A figurative image is one that involves a “turn” on the literary meaning of the words. For example, in the lines “It is a beauteous evening, calm and free; /The holy time is quiet as a nun,” the second line is highly figurative while the first line evokes a literal image
9、. We consider an image, whether literal or figurative, to have a concrete referent in the objective world and to function as image when it powerfully evokes that referent; whereas a symbol functions like an image but differs from it in going beyond the evocation of the objective referent by making t
10、hat referent suggest to the reader a meaning beyond itself. In other words, a sysmbol is an image that evokes an objective, concrete reality, but then that reality suggests another level of meaning directly; it evokes an object that suggests the meaning, with the emphasis being laid on the latter pa
11、rt. As Coleridge said, “It partakes of the reality which it renders intelligible. Metaphor A metaphor is an implied analogy imaginatively identifying one object with another and ascribing to the first object one or more of the qualities of the second, or investing the first with emotional or imagina
12、tive qualities associated with the second. It is not an uncommon literacy device in fiction, though it is more commonly used in poetry while simile is more commonly used in prose. A metaphor emphasizes rich suggestiveness in the differences between the things compared and the recognition of surprisi
13、ng but unsuspected similarities. Cleanth Brooks uses the term “functional metaphor” to describe the way in which the metaphor is able to have “referential” and “emotive” characteristics, and to go beyond those characteristics to become a direct means in itself of representing a truth incommunicable
14、by other means. When a metaphor performs this function, it is behaving as a symbol. But a symbol differs from a metaphor in that a metaphor evokes an object in order to illustrate an idea or demonstrate a quality, whereas a symbol embodies the idea or the quality. Allegory An allegory is a story in
15、which persons, places, actions, and things are equated with meanings that lie outside of the story itself. Thus it represents one thing in the guise of anotheran abstraction in the form of a concrete image. A clear example is the old Arab fable of the frog and scorpion, who me one day on the bank of
16、 the Nile, which they both wanted to cross. The frog offered to ferry the scorpion over on his back, provided the scorpion promised not to sting him. The scorpion agreed so long as the frog would promise not to drown him. The mutual promise exchanged, they crossed the river. On the far bank the scor
17、pion stung the frog mortally. “Why did you do that?” croaked the frog, as he lay dying. “Why?” replied the scorpion. “Were both Arabs, arent we?” If we substitute for the frog a “Mr. Goodwill” and for the scorpion “Mr. Treachery” or “Mr. Two-face”, and we make the river any river, and for “Were both
18、 Arabs” we substitute “Were both men,” we can make the fable into an allegory. In a simple allegory, characters and other ingredients often stand for other definite meanings, which are often abstractions. We have met such a character in the last chapter: Faith in Hawthornes “Young Goodman Brown.” A
19、classical allegory is the medieval play Everyman, whose protagonist represents us all, and who, deserted by false friends named Kinddred and Goods, faces the judgment of God accompanied only by a faithful friend called Good Deeds. In John Bunyans Pilgrims Progress, the protagonist, Christian, strugg
20、les along the difficult road towards salvation, meeting along the way with such persons as Mr. Worldly Wiseman, who directs him into a comfortable path (a wrong turn), and the resident of a town called Fair Speech, among them a hypocrite named Mr. Facing-both-ways. One modern instance is George Orwe
21、lls Animal Farm, in which (among its double meanings) barnyard animals stand for human victims and totalitarian oppressors. Allegory attempts to evoke a dual interest, one in the events, characters, and setting presented, and the other in the ideas they are intended to convey or the significance the
22、y bear. Symbol differs from allegory, according to Coleridge, in that in allegory the objective referent evokes is without value until it acquires fixed meaning from its own particular structure of ideas, whereas a symbol includes permanent objective value, independent of the meanings that it may su
23、ggest. In a broad sense, all stories are symbolic, that is, the writer lends the characters and their actions some special significance. Of course, this is to think of symbol in an extremely broad and inclusive way. For the usual purpose of reading a story and understanding it, there is probably lit
24、tle point in looking for symbolism in every word, in every stick or stone, in every striking fo a match, in every minor character. But to refuse to think about the symbolic meanings would be another way to misread a story. So to be on the alert for symbols when reading fiction is perhaps wiser than
25、to ignore them. How, then, do we recognize a symbol in fiction when we meet it? Fortunately, the storyteller often givens the symbol particular emphasis. It may be mentioned repeatedly throughout the story; it may even be indicated in the title (“Araby,” “Barn Burning,” “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”
26、). At times, a crucial symbol will open a story or end it. Unless an object, act, or character is given some special emphasis and importance, we may generally feel safe in taking it at face value. But an object, an act, or a character is surely symbolic if, when we finish the story, we realize that
27、it was that burning of a barnwhich led us to the theme, the essential meaning of the story. Chapter Eight Image The image is seen as being one of two things: something that represents a thing in the “real” world; something is seen as its own thing, divorced from the burden of representing anything o
28、ther than itself. What Is Image? “An image is that which represents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time.” (Ezra Pound) In a Station of the Metro The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough. 地铁车站 人群 粉面 幽灵 黝湿 枝头 花瓣 Imagery, a rather vague critical t
29、erm covering those uses of language in a literary work that evoke senseimpressions by literal or figurative reference to perceptible or concrete objects, scenes, actions, or states, as distinct from the language of abstract argument or exposition. The imagery of a literary work thus comprises the se
30、t of images that it uses; these need not be mental pictures, but may appeal to senses other than sight. Images suggesting further meanings and associations in ways that go beyond the fairly simple identifications of metaphor and simile are often called symbols. The Five Senses Responding to Imaginat
31、ive language Visual Imagery: Imagery of Sight Visual imagery is different from visual perception because visual perception requires the object to be actually present and visual imagery does not. Aural Imagery: Imagery of Sound Auditory imagery is something that represents a sound, which can be revea
32、led both in poems and stories. Olfactory Imagery: Imagery of Smell Olfactory imagery stimulates the sense of smell, which olfactions unique cognitive architecture of evocation have led some to conclude that there is no capacity for olfactory imagery. a. Self-reports of olfactory can resemble those o
33、btained for actual perception. b. Imaging an odor can produce effects similar to actual perception. c. Olfactory perception and memorybased images can interact. 4. Tactile Imagery: Imagery of Touch Tactile imagery stimulates the sense of touch, which is also called Haptic Imagery. 5. Gustatory Image
34、ry: Imagery of Taste Gustatory imagery stimulates the sense of taste. “ Have a dill pickle, he said. He wanted to share with us: That seemed to me so right, soyou know what I mean?” From A Dill Pickle by Katherine Mansfield personify the vanishing aristocracy of the South, still maintaining a black
35、servant and being ruthless betrayed by a moneymaking Yankee. Sometimes a part of a characters body or an attribute may convey symbolic meaning, for example, a baleful eye in Edgar Allan Poes “The Tell-Tale Heart.” 4. Symbol used in works of fiction is the symbolic act Another kind of symbol commonly
36、 employed in works of fiction is the symbolic act: an act or a gesture with larger significance than its literal meaning. Captain Ahab in Melvilles Moby-Dick deliberately snaps his tobacco pipe and throws it away before setting out in pursuit of the huge whale, a gesture suggesting that he is determ
37、ined to take his revenge and will let nothing to distract him from it. Another typical symbolic act is the burning of the barn by the boys father in Faulkners “Barn Burning”: it is an act of no mere destroying a barn, but an expression of his profound spite and hatred towards that class of people wh
38、o have driven his family out of his land. His hatred extends to anything he does not possess himself and, beyond that, burning a barn reflects the fathers memories of the “waste and extravagance of war” and the “element of fire spoke to some deep mainspring” in his being. 5. A symbol is a trope In a
39、 broad literary sense, a symbol is a trope that combines a literal and sensuous quality with an necessary or suggestive aspect. However, in literary criticism it is necessary to distinguish symbol from image, metaphor, and, especially, allegory. An image An image is a literal and concrete representa
40、tion of a sensory experience or of an object that can be known by one or more of the senses. It is the means by which experience in its richness and emotional complexity is communicated. (Holman and Harmon, A Handbook to Literature, 1986) Images may be literal or figurative, a literal image being on
41、e that involves no necessary change or extension in the obvious meaning of the words. Prose works are usually full of this kind of image. For example, novels and stories by Conard and Hemingway are noted for the evocative power of their literal images. A figurative image is one that involves a “turn
42、” on the literary meaning of the words. For example, in the lines “It is a beauteous evening, calm and free; /The holy time is quiet as a nun,” the second line is highly figurative while the first line evokes a literal image. We consider an image, whether literal or figurative, to have a concrete re
43、ferent in the objective world and to function as image when it powerfully evokes that referent; whereas a symbol functions like an image but differs from it in going beyond the evocation of the objective referent by making that referent suggest to the reader a meaning beyond itself. In other words,
44、a sysmbol is an image that evokes an objective, concrete reality, but then that reality suggests another level of meaning directly; it evokes an object that suggests the meaning, with the emphasis being laid on the latter part. As Coleridge said, “It partakes of the reality which it renders intellig
45、ible. Metaphor A metaphor is an implied analogy imaginatively identifying one object with another and ascribing to the first object one or more of the qualities of the second, or investing the first with emotional or imaginative qualities associated with the second. It is not an uncommon literacy de
46、vice in fiction, though it is more commonly used in poetry while simile is more commonly used in prose. A metaphor emphasizes rich suggestiveness in the differences between the things compared and the recognition of surprising but unsuspected similarities. Cleanth Brooks uses the term “functional me
47、taphor” to describe the way in which the metaphor is able to have “referential” and “emotive” characteristics, and to go beyond those characteristics to become a direct means in itself of representing a truth incommunicable by other means. When a metaphor performs this function, it is behaving as a
48、symbol. But a symbol differs from a metaphor in that a metaphor evokes an object in order to illustrate an idea or demonstrate a quality, whereas a symbol embodies the idea or the quality. Allegory An allegory is a story in which persons, places, actions, and things are equated with meanings that li
49、e outside of the story itself. Thus it represents one thing in the guise of anotheran abstraction in the form of a concrete image. A clear example is the old Arab fable of the frog and scorpion, who me one day on the bank of the Nile, which they both wanted to cross. The frog offered to ferry the scorpion over on his back, provided the scorpion promised not to sting him. The scorpion
