SYMBOLISM • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Symbolism

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/sˈɪmbəlˌɪzəm/ Listen

Symbolism

noun

A system of symbols and symbolic representations.

The practice of investing things with symbolic meaning. Synonyms: symbolisation, symbolization.

An artistic movement in the late 19th century that tried to express abstract or mystical ideas through the symbolic use of images.

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Etymology of 'Symbolism'

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"Symbolism" Quotes from Famous Books

... we have here is the effect, the thrill, the overtones of a ghost story rather than the narrative itself—the less than half-told adventure of some new Childe Roland heroically challenging a heedless universe. Never have silence and black night been reproduced more creepily, nor has the symbolism of man's courage facing the cryptic riddle of life ...

— Modern British Poetry • Various

... give some idea of the mysterious symbolism by which she was interiorly directed. During a portion of the year 1820 she performed many labours in spirit, for several different parishes; her prayers being represented under the figure of most severe labour in a vineyard. What ...

— The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ • Anna Catherine Emmerich

... and huge specification of oil production and consumption. The dotted cities would suggest no more than agencies in its distribution, and they would be pegged in many colors—as is the custom of our business efficiency—by way of base symbolism of their rank and pretense; the wide oceans themselves would be merely courses for his tank ships to bustle on and leave a greasy trail. Really, contrary to my own experience and sudden cure, one might think that such an oleaginous stream of talk, if directed in atomizer ...

— Journeys to Bagdad • Charles S. Brooks

... psychologist in Madame Bovary, the archaeological novel in Salammbo, or cold, grey realism as in L'Education Sentimentale, while his very style, with its sumptuous verbal echoes, its resonant, rhythmic periods—is not all this the beginning of that symbolism carried to such lengths by Verlaine and his followers? Shakespeare himself ranged from gross naturalism to the quiring ...

— Ivory Apes and Peacocks • James Huneker

... the dancer struck the table in ritualistic challenge, exchanged gestures, bent his neck and passed on. He circled the broad floor, sabre twirling, arms darting in an intricate symbolism. The orchestra blared shrilly, unmuffled now by the surf-roar of conversation. The Yill, Retief noticed suddenly, were sitting silent, watching. The dancer was closer now, and then he was before Retief, poised, towering, sabre above ...

— The Yillian Way • John Keith Laumer

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