Teaching Symbolism in Poetry

Symbolism is one of those things. We want our high school English students to know about it and be able to identify it, but… (There is always a but, right?) Sometimes, it is really hard. That’s why starting by teaching symbolism in poetry might just be the way to go.

Poems are by their very nature, concise. This is why after starting with symbolism anchor charts followed by using poetry to identify and discuss the function of a symbol may just be the way to go.

3 Activities for Teaching Symbolism in Poetry

These activities are designed to move your students from simply identifying symbolism in poetry to understanding and discussing their functions.

Activity One: Symbolism Puzzle

Have students read and annotate several poems or one poem with multiple symbols for meaning and other observations about language. Then you can give them this hands on activity that uses puzzle pieces to have students put the name of the symbol, the image, its literal meaning and its symbolic meaning together to build the puzzle. A great poem for the activity is “The Writer” by Richard Wilbur or “Looking for the Gulf Coast Motel” by Richard Blanco.

As a next step, you could give students a new poem or move into a longer text that has a symbol and have them complete the steps on their own: provide the name of the symbol, an image and its literal and symbolic meanings.

Activity Two: Color Annotating for Symbolism in Poetry

Have students annotate a poem that includes color symbolism. Choosing a poem with contrasting colors is a great way to get students to notice how the colors are being used to enhance the meaning.

Choose a poem like “Sea Violet” or “Leda” by HD. Then provided students with markers or colored pencils in the colors named in the poem. Have them use the colors to underline or highlight the colors. Once they have marked the color, they can make notes about the feelings the color evokes, connections to the color and connections to the theme of the poem. You can then follow up with a class discussion or a writing assignment.

Activity Three: Symbol Mind Map

Assign groups a symbol from a poem. Have them begin by drawing a picture of the symbol in the center of the page. Then have them create a mind map which includes the literal meaning of the symbol, the symbolic meaning of the symbols and its connections to other parts of the poem. Have groups share out or do a gallery walk.

Give everyone the same symbol, or give groups different symbols or even different symbols from different poems.

Teaching Symbolism in Poetry

When working in symbolism in high school English, sometimes smaller is better. Beginning with symbolism in poetry is a great way to encourage students to notice ideas beyond their literal level.

For more, be sure to check out my new minicourse: The Power of Symbols: Teaching Literary Symbolism and Archetypes in High School English.