ap lit - symbolism vocabulary: semester 1

black >

death, mourning, fear, magic, sophistication, elegance

blue >

holiness, heaven, serenity, peace, in the catholic tradition - the virgin mary, sadness and depression

green >

spring, youth, new life, inexperience, virginity (insulting connotation), jealousy, envy

grey >

old age, wisdom, experience, neutrality, depression

pink >

youth, traditional feminist, good health, young love/innocent love

purple >

royalty, wealth, power, dignity

red >

passion, passionate love, in some eastern cultures - good luck, anger, danger, sacrifice

yellow >

cowardice, illness, happiness, joy, energy

white >

innocence, purity, virginity, in some eastern - death and mourning

darkness >

the unknown, evil, chaos, death

fire >

purification, enlightenment, translation, judgement, destruction

light >

enlightenment, immorality, spirituality, the divinem

moon >

natural cycles (menstruation, life-death), the passage of time, femininity, the subconscious, hidden aspects of the self

ocean or sea >

the womb, boundlessness, eternity, the unconscious mind, mystery, power and the unknown

river >

passage of time, change, a journey, a boundary between two worlds or two states of being

sun >

masculinity, power, royalty, confidence and pride

water >

purification, rebirth, the womb

city >

corruption, sophistication, culture, human ingenuity

desert/wasteland >

trial and testing, exile, punishment, divine judgement

garden >

paradise, fertility, femininity

island >

isolation, paradise, idyllic beauty, danger

forest/wilderness >

mystery, testing, danger, transition between life and death

meadow/pasture/field >

union with nature, innocence, a place of respite from danger or corruption

mountain >

divine inspiration or revelation, sacred space, challenge

small town >

community, innocence, insularity, ignorance, closed-mindedness

tower >

isolation, power, arcane knowledge

apple >

fertility, love, knowledge, wisdom, temptation, health, comfort

evergreen trees >

immortality

lily >

purity, beauty, and death

oak tree >

strength, stability, courage, endurance, wisdom, royalty/kings

pomegranate >

fertility, death, power, marriage, temptation

rose >

love, passion, sexuality

strawberry >

youth, virginity, sweetness, sometimes carnal indulgences

willow tree >

grief and mourning, associated with abandoned or betrayed lovers

yew tree >

death, resurrection, immortality, eternal life, associated with cemeteries

butterfly >

transition, fragile innocence, fleeting youth

dove >

peace, enlightenment sacrifice

eagle >

wisdom, strength, freedom, immortality (ancient western culture)

fox >

cunning, trickster figures (similar to coyote in american indigenous cultures)

owl >

wisdom, arcane knowledge

lion >

pride, royalty, strength, courage, ferocity, protection (eastern tradition)

lamb >

peace, sacrifice, new life

peacock >

pride, vanity (in Islamic tradition the peacock helped Satan enter paradise), wealth, royalty, resurrection (christianity)

raven/crow >

death, bringers of divine messages, tricksters

serpent/snake >

temptation, deceit, wisdom

spider >

patience, persistence, creativity/creation (indigenous american cultures)

vulture >

liminal space between life and death because they were believed to convey the dead into the afterlife, motherhood, purity, virginity (ancient eyptian tradition)