Glossary of Traditional Symbols in Western Literature

Subject

Yearly Cycle
Subject

Daily Cycle

Subject

Direction

Subject

Colors

Image

Possible Areas of Significance

Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter

Birth, youth, fertility, rejuvenation

Maturity, vigor, accomplishment
Fruition, fulfillment, aging, preparation for death
Death, emptiness

Image

Possible Areas of Significance

Dawn

Birth, enlightenment, deliverance from fear, new beginning

Morning
Afternoon
Sunset
Twilight
Night

Youth, optimism
Maturity, vigor, accomplishment
Death, moral glory
Death, departure, mystery
Death, the unknown, frightening, desolate, erotic

Image

Possible Areas of Significance

Up
Down
East
South
West
North

Toward spiritual, intellectual, heaven

Toward material, carnal, hell
Toward ones origin, beginnings
Toward sensuality, freedom from restraint, lush antiquity
Toward death, adventure, Manifest Destiny, expansion
Toward wilderness, purity, moral repressiveness

Image

Possible Areas of Significance

White
Black
Gray
Red

Blue
Orange
Brown
Pink

Purity, innocence, spirituality, holiness, peace, hope, wisdom

Sorrow, evil, death, depression, judgment, evaluation, law, loneliness
Mediocrity, sickliness, industrialization, aging
Sexual passion, anger, healthy spontaneity, energy, life, blood, love, anger,
bravery, strength, excitement
Youth, vigor, the natural, harmony, balance, growth, nature, gentleness, reliability,
calmness, rebirth, jealousy, envy
Sickliness, weakness, decay, fear
Royalty, riches, spirituality, magic, inner-awareness, reformation, purification,
trust, faith
Coolness, calmness, idealism, truth, self-reliance, integrity, nobility, intellect
Physical vitality, pride, enthusiasm, ambition, mentality, endurance
Tradition, organization, solidarity, conventional ideas, earth, country, reliability
childish innocence, or a characters child-like personality.

Image

Possible Areas of Significance

Light
Wind
Storm clouds
Rain

Reason, knowledge
The power of Nature, inspiration, power
The hostility of Nature
Transformation, restoration, baptism, cleansing, gloom, promise/covenant,
fertility
Cessation of life, transformation, purity
Uncertainty, mystery, obscurity
Freedom
Quenching of thirst, death by drowning, purification, baptism
Rigidity, death, compulsive symmetry

Green
Yellow
Purple

Subject

Weather

Snow
Fog
Sky
Water
Ice

Subject

Celestial
Bodies

Subject

Topography

Subject

Animal Life

Subject

Image

Possible Areas of Significance

Sun
Moon
Stars
Comets and
Meteors

Reason, enlightenment, success, elemental energy, life

Mystery, the imagination
The immutable laws of the universe
Unnaturalness, portents of disaster

Image

Possible Areas of Significance

Spring
Earth
Ocean
Forest
Mountain
Desert
Running water
River
Cave
Cliff

Mysterious source of energy or inspiration

Source of life, gross materiality
The ungovernable, the infinite, the unfathomable
Natural chaos, evil, mystery, freedom, spontaneity
Obstacle, mystical illumination, purity
Sterility, impotence
Life, purity, fertility
Journey, fertility, voyage
Lust, history, protection, ignorance
Crucial situation, inaccessibility

Image

Possible Areas of Significance

Lion, tiger
Rat, mouse
Spider
Quadrupeds
Reptiles
Horse
Bull
Bee
Ant
Grasshopper,
cricket
Wild bird
Caged bird

Predators
Secretiveness
Predators, calculation, artistry
Spontaneous animalism
Deceit, Satan, evil, horror
Masculinity
Masculinity, violence
Industriousness, conscientiousness, citizenship
Industriousness, anonymity
Carefree improvidence

Image

Possible Areas of Significance

Home, house
City, town

A family, an inhabitant, a mothers body

Rationality, order, restraint, anonymity, human fulfillment
Freedom, a passage to and from an enclosed space into the vast expanse of the
world. Windows symbolize passage, where light, air, sounds, knowledge, objects
etc., may pass through, coming and going. The soul has a window, the mind. Both
symbolic entrances into new worlds
The course of human life, journey, decisions,
Security, hospitality, warmth, family
Violence
Illumination, the fire of life, passion, brevity
Vehicle for transformation
The human condition, mens role playing, actors on the
stage as a metaphor for life.
Consumes, warms, and illuminates, but can also bring pain and death; thus, its
symbolic meaning varies wildly, depending upon the context of its use

Windows/Doors

Humans
Environment
and Tools

Road / path
Hearth
Knife
Candle
Ship
Theatrical
stage
FIRE

Freedom
Unjust imprisonment, violation of nature

Fire can also be seem as a force pf purification

Fire is viewed by Christians, the Chinese and the Hebrews as being a symbol of
divinity (Cooper, 1978). In Christianity, fire can also be symbolic of religious zeal
and martyrdom.