|
|
Here are some common symbols. Do you know what they
stand for?
Ancient Symbols
The
Target
This is the most common of the signs in use today to represent a target. A similar sign has been found on the brow of a statue representing a priest king, living in what today is India. The statue is dated back to around 3000 B.C. This structure is quite common on rock faces in the Nordic countries and in other places. On a rock carving from Tanzania in Africa one can see this image, where it seems to be an ideogram for either the moon, or for the eclipsed sun. In 1576 the planetary system according to the theory of Copernicus could be represented by a similar structure made up of eight concentric circles.
Source: 1997 HME Media.
Activity 1:
Make a list of some of the symbols encountered in everyday life,
for example:
a green light tells you it is your turn to go;
a bell may signal the beginning of the school day; and
a gold cross on a necklace suggests the wearer is a Christian.
List 5 symbols around us.
Activity 2: Interpreting the Pictures
Finish the sentences, which show how images in art can act like symbols.
The mother symbolizes life, love and ______________________________________.
The child symbolizes __________________________________.
Water symbolizes ____________________________
A boat symbolizes ____________________________
A man rowing a woman and child across a lake is symbolic of __________________________________________
Read the poem below by William Blake.
The sick rose
O Rose , thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy,
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
Develop a half page interpretation of the poem's meaning.
Write what you consider to be a possible 'reading', or way for the poem to be understood, by interpreting it line by line, or image by image.
You may use expressions such as, 'By using the image of the ___________
the poet creates ideas of ____________but also of ______________________`.
The interpretation should finish with one or two sentences which sum up
your view of what the poem is about.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Teacher's resource for symbols and images in "A sick rose"
Below are some of the many possible meanings associated with the symbols used in the poem.
Rose: a symbol of perfection and the flower of Venus (the Roman goddess of love). It also stands for joy and
peace. The rose is always seen as feminine and sometimes represents the female genitals. A red rose can
represent life, spring, passion and blood. A white rose can represent purity and virginity.
Worm: a symbol of death. It is connected with lowness, vileness and contempt. It is also a masculine force,
sometimes being seen to represent the penis. In this poem, worm is also specifically the canker worm which eats
the roots of the rose.
Storm: a symbol of chaos, confusion, fear, wildness, destruction and change. The storm can also be seen as
blowing away the old and frail and giving the new room to expand. If the storm is seen to have creative effects,
there must first be great wildness and destruction.
Night: a symbol of darkness, of things secret and hidden. It is also a symbol of evil. Satan is referred to as the
Prince of Darkness.
Bed: a symbol of sleep and the vulnerability and innocence of sleep. It can also represent the sexual in bed. In this
poem it is also, of course, a garden bed.
In groups, students compare their interpretations and discuss the differences.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
'Inside Out' is an ABC Children's and Education Television
production.
Alternative poem for students of shakespeare.
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
Activity 4:
Choose 4 images (or sounds) which you feel are powerful
and loaded with meaning. They can be symbols of something about you, or
symbols representing something you have done or wish to do. They may be
metaphors or similes you have chosen before in this unit, or new images
which in themselves represent something about which you want to write.
Anything goes.
Image 1 : _____________________________________________________________
Image 2: _____________________________________________________________
Image 3: _____________________________________________________________
Image 4: _____________________________________________________________
Use these images in a poem. Focus
on the image which you feel is the most powerful.
