A symbol is that which is representative. It is derived from the Greek word, “symbolon”, which means, “throw together” or “coincide”, ‘sign’ or mark’. A symbol is therefore an object, an item, a person, an image, a picture, an event, a sign or even sound that represents an idea, something more than its literal meaning.
In the human civilization, symbols have been used variously since time immemorial to convey sets of meanings to different groups of people for different reasons or purposes. The appearance of a symbol before us puts us in close relationship with an idea that that symbol represents. A thought on Mathematical symbols may help to explain this. The symbol of the Christian Cross brings to us an idea of the suffering of God on the cross for the sake of man. In the Indian tradition, the lotus is regarded as a symbol of purity, divinity, knowledge and enlightenment. Then we have the currency symbol we come across each time we engage in monetary transactions. The “+” symbol represents the Red Cross, which essentially represents the ideal humanitarian goodwill to mankind in terms of rendering aids for physical well-being and health. Similarly national ideals are captured in the national flag with symbols. For example a rising crescent may represent progress, and a wheel or the Dharma Chakra represent dynamic progress. Such symbols on the flag tend to represent the soul quality of a country. Colours are also symbolic, as in white representing purity.
Since symbols are representative, it goes without saying that they encapsulate in them an idea and cut down on the necessity for verbose descriptions or explanations. They render an economy of words while offering an experience of the idea encapsulated therein. Art and literature are rife with symbols, and poetry is no exception. In fact, symbols feature as an important device in poetry for evoking complex ideas without resorting to much use of words. This in itself lends a cryptic beauty to poetry and enhances its quality.
In poetry, one can make out perhaps two main types of symbols – symbols that are typical to that culture that the poem evolved from, such as a lion, symbolizing strength and energy, dove, for peace or symbols can be one that the poet himself creates from the context of the poem. Very often, the reader is left to his own devices to interpret the symbol and make out the idea represented. This in itself gives poetry a flexibility, a certain malleability that does not confine or constrict, but flows like a river. The state of being of the reader co-mingles with the consciousness of the writer and meaning is made.
Let’s now dwell a while on what Sri Aurobindo has to say about symbols in poetry, beyond what is commonly understood as symbols in poetry. According to Sri Aurobindo, a symbol is “a living Truth or inward vision or experience of things, so inward, so subtle, so little belonging to the domain of intellectual abstraction, and precision...” Sri Aurobindo, by putting down these terms, calls upon the poet into higher realms of his being, above the mere intellectual. In high poetry, the symbol is representative of an experience deep, “inward”, “subtle”. These terms in themselves point to realms beyond the mere mental, or intellectual. There is a suggestion of poetry emerging out of psychic play, as well as from regions above the higher mind. Poetry becomes an act of the spirit and naturally, symbols would have to be of that texture and flavour, since arising out of that higher or deeper experience.
In the human civilization, symbols have been used variously since time immemorial to convey sets of meanings to different groups of people for different reasons or purposes. The appearance of a symbol before us puts us in close relationship with an idea that that symbol represents. A thought on Mathematical symbols may help to explain this. The symbol of the Christian Cross brings to us an idea of the suffering of God on the cross for the sake of man. In the Indian tradition, the lotus is regarded as a symbol of purity, divinity, knowledge and enlightenment. Then we have the currency symbol we come across each time we engage in monetary transactions. The “+” symbol represents the Red Cross, which essentially represents the ideal humanitarian goodwill to mankind in terms of rendering aids for physical well-being and health. Similarly national ideals are captured in the national flag with symbols. For example a rising crescent may represent progress, and a wheel or the Dharma Chakra represent dynamic progress. Such symbols on the flag tend to represent the soul quality of a country. Colours are also symbolic, as in white representing purity.
Since symbols are representative, it goes without saying that they encapsulate in them an idea and cut down on the necessity for verbose descriptions or explanations. They render an economy of words while offering an experience of the idea encapsulated therein. Art and literature are rife with symbols, and poetry is no exception. In fact, symbols feature as an important device in poetry for evoking complex ideas without resorting to much use of words. This in itself lends a cryptic beauty to poetry and enhances its quality.
In poetry, one can make out perhaps two main types of symbols – symbols that are typical to that culture that the poem evolved from, such as a lion, symbolizing strength and energy, dove, for peace or symbols can be one that the poet himself creates from the context of the poem. Very often, the reader is left to his own devices to interpret the symbol and make out the idea represented. This in itself gives poetry a flexibility, a certain malleability that does not confine or constrict, but flows like a river. The state of being of the reader co-mingles with the consciousness of the writer and meaning is made.
Let’s now dwell a while on what Sri Aurobindo has to say about symbols in poetry, beyond what is commonly understood as symbols in poetry. According to Sri Aurobindo, a symbol is “a living Truth or inward vision or experience of things, so inward, so subtle, so little belonging to the domain of intellectual abstraction, and precision...” Sri Aurobindo, by putting down these terms, calls upon the poet into higher realms of his being, above the mere intellectual. In high poetry, the symbol is representative of an experience deep, “inward”, “subtle”. These terms in themselves point to realms beyond the mere mental, or intellectual. There is a suggestion of poetry emerging out of psychic play, as well as from regions above the higher mind. Poetry becomes an act of the spirit and naturally, symbols would have to be of that texture and flavour, since arising out of that higher or deeper experience.
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