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Color Symbolism in Literature: What Do Colors Mean in Literature and Poetry?
Color Symbolism in Literature: What Do Colors Mean in Literature and Poetry?
Colors have been used in stories since as early as the first story was told. Writers and poets use colors to create concrete images of their characters, scenes and events. Language itself uses a system of symbols, either verbal or written. Therefore, color symbolism in literature imparts a deeper meaning to the words which, in turn, help transform the written content into a more powerful instrument. However, writers and poets have the poetic license to use different colors in a manner that create different meanings in their work.
Let us study different colors and what they mean in different forms of literature across the world.
Color symbolism in fairy tales
The best places in literature to study color symbolism are the Fairy tales which used colors richly: examples include: As red as blood, as white as snow, as black as the crow etc-all of which evoke emotional responses and help develop a connection to the story.
The tale of Snow White is one of the best examples that depicts color symbolism: it uses Red, White and Black dominantly where White represents Heaven, Red represents spilling of blood and an enticing-yet-poisoned apple while Black shows regeneration.
Color symbolism in Gothic literature
Gothic Literature is known for its use of Red and Black as the symbolism associated with these colors really draw the readers in to evoke an emotional response while creating an atmosphere.
· Red color meaning in Gothic literature- According to a study published in 2004 by psychology majors in Alabama, red is a very dominant color which can have an exciting and stimulating effect. Based on circumstances, Gothic writers use it for drawing both positive and negative emotions. These include, typically, passion and warmth and aggression or intensity. Red is also the color of fire and blood and can symbolize energy, war, danger, strength, determination, passion, as well as love. Red is known to trigger and enhance appetite and metabolism, raise the rate of respiration and also increase blood pressure. It has high visibility and is used to symbolize danger.
· Black color meaning in Gothic literature– Black, on the other hand, is used in Gothic literature to symbolize evil, death, power, formality, elegance, mystery and fear. Black also has negative connotations especially in poetry, and when combined with red or orange can create a highly aggressive color scheme.
With these emotions attached to red and black, Gothic literature uses these as staple colors for literary needs.
Symbolism of green color in literature and poems
As per the 2004 color study, green in literature and poems is used for symbolizing both a ‘riveting’ and ‘relaxing’ effect. Green represents feelings of refreshment and is also associated with feelings of hope. Green (in poetry) is used for representing nature, harmony, freshness, fertility but also ambition, greed and jealousy.
Symbolism of the color yellow in literature
Yellow is associated with joy, happiness, intellect and energy. It is a stimulating color that represents honor, loyalty, and stimulates mental activity. It is also an unstable color associated with cowardice and mental illness. Avoid using this color if you want to portray stability and safety in your work.
Symbolism of blue color in literature
Blue color in literature is mainly used to draw a positive emotional response and is typically associated with the feeling of calmness, peace, happiness, relaxation, comfort. On the negative side, it may be used to represent depression, sadness and gloominess.
According to the color theory, writers and poets use Blue to depict trust, loyalty, wisdom, faith, confidence, truth and heaven.
Symbolism of the color pink
Pink, which is a shade of red, is used in literature to denote romance, love, friendship, possessiveness as well as feminine or girly qualities.
Other colors in literature
· White-Innocence, virginity, purity
· Purple-Royalty, wealth
· Orange-Fiery or lust
· Aqua-Coolness, water
· Brown-Poverty, earth
And finally, we leave you with a few examples to help you better understand color symbolism in poems and literature.
1. The devil with its fiery eyes emerged from the dark pit, its evil eyes and terrifying red horns enough to scare the living lights of the viewer. Naturally, you must have imagined a black devil with red horns and tongue, since red and black are often used to portray evil and negative characters.
2. I lay upon the crisp green grass and watched the white wispy clouds as they floated across the serene blue skies. This scene must have naturally brought images of summer, a beautiful meadow or grassy yard, and you were also probably left with a feeling of tranquility and peace.
As is evident, color symbolism in literature does not just serve as character information but is also a way of informing a reader about a scene without going into too many details. With basic understanding of what a color represents, a reader can even create a stronger bond with the characters for a richer reading experience.
-What prominent colors have we seen so far in our reading of The Great Gastby? (hint: think about the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg & the light at the end of Daisy’s dock). After reading this article what might these various colors symbolize in the text?
-If you were to write your autobiography using heavy color symbolism, what colors do you think would show up most often? Why?
-Did this article help you understand the ways that authors use colors symbolically in their writing? Explain why or why not.
While reading The Great Gatsby we have seen a few colors so far in the novel, although haven’t seen too many overall. At the beginning of the book the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg, the advertisement for the eye doctor, the eyes were blue in the advertisement. Then, when Gatsby would see the light at the end of Daisy’s dock, the color of the light was green. These colors, most likely, have simbolizem in the novel. The eyes, for example, are firstly called “the eyes in the sky”, as in they watch over everyone in the city. The color of the eyes, though, could be showing a positive, emotional response. Blue is typically associated with the feeling of calmness, peace, happiness, relaxation, and comfort. That sounds more accurate to how it could also have the meaning of depression or sadness in novels. The bright, green light at the end of Daisy’s dock could be used to symbolize a “riveting” and “relaxing effect. Green is used to represent the feelings of refreshment and also associated with the feelings of hope. Which hints to Gatsby’s hope of how he hopes Daisy is still in love with him, or shows all of his expectations towards the way he sees Daisy in his mind. Green could also be used to represent nature, harmony, freshness, fertility, but is also used to represent ambition, greed, and jealousy on the more negative side.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to write my own autobiography using heavy color symbolism, there would be quite a few colors to show up. Green, blue, and maybe even brown. Green to represent hope, blue to be showing positiveness; showing the positive qualities in my life, and brown for poverty, seeing my family is poor.
This article helped me a bit with understanding the ways that authors use colors symbolically in their writing. It doesn’t go too into depth and talk more about other colors, but it helps enough to the point where I understand what the most basic colors mean and such. If I were to be more curious and question what every single color in a book represents, than I would need an article that would go more into depths and talk more about the meaning of colors, but for just looking at what basic colors mean, this article is pretty good.
I agree they use colors to represent things in stories. The article taught us why and how they use them to help tell the story.
Deletei agree with your last paragraph because i wish it would of went into more detail on the other colors too and the color spectrum.
DeleteThrough out the Great Gatsby there are multiple prominent colors through out the book. The colors white gold and silver usually represent wealth in the book. Jay Gatsby wore these colors the day he met up with daisy again to represent and show off his wealth and the type of person he is. White is also worn by daisy and is the color of her car in the flash / throwback. The white symbolizes purity and wealth in general and in the book.
ReplyDeleteIf i were to write a book i think i would use colors like blue green and yellow most often. I feel like these are pretty colors and also they remind me of the ocean and the sun and palm trees and the grass. If i were to write a book it would most likely be about a trip to a beach or island type place because that is what i love the most.
This article helped me understand why authors use colors to help tell a story and represent things.
I agree, Gatsby does, himself, show wealth by wearing the colors white, silver, and gold. He shows its specifically for Daisy, much like the green like at Daisy's dock represents Gatsby's hope towards her love and their relationship.
Deletethe great Gatsby we have seen symbolized colours such as the eyes of of doctor Eckleburg, and the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. The eyes are kind of like the eyes of god always looking and watching over the town. The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock represents Gatsby’s hope in having Daisy return to him and to get up the courage to one day get her back, which we have learned that now the green light doesn’t mean anything anymore because he had Daisy now.
ReplyDeleteIf i were to have an autobiography of myself i would name it “Auras” and i would based it off of the colors of the human body and the colors. It would symbolize the different moods and how they affect us on daily basis. That way i wouldn’t have to pick just one color to symbolize me. Because i think i would have a lot of colors because i am a very feel full person so the best way to show my colors would to put them all into one and have it representing the different forms of reading auras.
This article helped me realize that there is a lot of symbolization in almost everything, kind of like everything is meant for a reason and symbols can help you understand things a lot better. Colors can mean a lot and this article helped understand that. For the same reason as to why i love the color red because it can symbolize so much in one color. We use color to symb
I agree that different colors mean different things in literature. In The Great Gatsby, the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock represented hope but in The Wizard of Oz, the color green symbolizes greed and jealousy.
DeleteThe colors that we have seen in the book the great gatsby are the colors blue and green colors of doctor eckleburg's which are blue and daisy light by here dock is green the meaning of the blue blue is mainly used for literature is mainly used to draw positive and emotional the feelings that you would have would be calmness, peace , happiness, relaxation or comfort on the negative side it would be used as sadness or gloomy because of the color that it would be.
ReplyDeleteThe symbolism of the green color is that it would be used in the poems or other readings that people would write symbolizing both a riveting and a relaxing effect that makes it happen in the green color green makes the feelings of refreshment and is also associated with cowardice and the mental illness you would avoid this color if you would want to portray stability and safety in the work. If i would write an a autobiography as a writer i would use the colors blue because i would wanna have calmness and peace if i was writing it during my biography and i would use aqua even though it would be the same exact color except it would be the different kind of meanings when i would write it and i would wanna get orange so then i would have some cool story when i would be writing my autobiography the last color i would want would be green because it would be a nice color and the meaning and it would be representing the nature and the greed of people of other things in their. It would also be white because it seems like a nice color that would be used it there even though i probably wouldn’t say that in my autobiography but i would say stuff about it. Yes this article did help me a little more about what the words meant because during reading the book i didn’t really understand but now i have a better understanding about what each color and meaning that the colors have in the book or even if we're not reading a book
I agree with you about what the colors in the book we are reading. They do mean whatever you said in your writing.
DeleteIn the book, “The Great Gatsby” there are colors that are suppose to mean something in the book. Like for example, when Nick saw the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg his eyes were colored blue with yellow glasses. Also when Gatsby would look across the lake and would look at Daisy house and it would have a green light. I think that these colors mean something in the book. A lot of things that happen in the book have a meaning to something. Most of the time it is all about thinking about what it means or sometimes it’s straight to the point.
ReplyDeleteIf i was to write a autobiography and i had to use colors as a symbol then i would colors like green, red, blue, purple and other types of colorful colors. For example, green would be a symbol for positive things for whatever im talking about. Red would be for evil, blood related things just cause it is simply. For things that mean poor, the color i would use is brown or black.
This article helped me a little bit in a way to understand the author choose for using the colors in the article. Also to know what each color can represent in a story or in life. This article is very helpful to understand the meaning of colors.
Color Symbolism in Literature
ReplyDelete“The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic - their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose.” The eyes are blue with yellow spectacles. Blue represents tranquility, joy and rest. On the other hand, blue represents desolation, hopelessness and unhappiness. The color yellow illustrates insight, hope and faithfulness. The way the eyes are described in the story, makes me believe that there’s a strong instability, emptiness, misery and sorrow hovering the land.
Green represents a bright side; to hope, newness, abundance, and strong desires for success. It also represents wealth and prosperity. Similar to the green light that is at the end of Daisy and Tom’s dock.
If I were to write an autobiography using heavy color symbolism, the colors that I think would show up most often would be the colors pink, white and blue. My favorite color is the color pink. It represents my girly features, the colors white to show my innocence, and the color blue to portray the feelings of depression and unhappiness.
The article helps the reader understand the ways that authors use colors symbolically in their writing to represent different feelings, emotions scenes and situations.
i completly agree
DeleteIf I were to write an autobiography using heavy color symbolism, the colors that I think would show up most often would be the colors pink, white and blue. My favorite color is the color pink. It represents my girly features, the colors white to show my innocence, and the color blue to portray the feelings of depression and unhappiness.
DeleteThe article helps the reader understand the ways that authors use colors symbolically in their writing to represent different feelings, emotions scenes and situations.
the color symbolism i see in the great gatsby is black, everyone is very against one another. they all seem to have a lot of problems drama wise and on their own. if i was to write my own auto biography using color symbolism, i would pick bright colors, like yellow, purple, pink, pretty colors. colors that represent happiness and bubbly. i am i very bubbly person and i’m always happy, and purple i am very loyal to my family, friends etc. i think the color purple would show up the most. i think purple would show the most because it is my favorite color, and again it shows loyalty. i am always there for everyone even if they have done me dirty. i came to realize that being the bigger person is the better thing to do. so i just always stick up for people, always stay true to them and be myself. this article didn’t really explain to me jos the colors are used, i think it needed alittle bit more explanation in it. but i do like that article.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteIn the book “The Great Gatsby” there is various colors shown that represent each person or thing. The colors are gold,white and silver for money, it was the color that Gatsby wore when he first met with Daisy again in a very long time to show that. The other main color that was popular in the story were Doctor T.J. Eckleburg his blue gigantic eyes since he was the eyes that watch everyone in the Valley of ashes. The way his eyes were describe represent the literature of the book for each characters have been through. If i was the one who made the autobiography I think the main color would be gold since in that time period it was a popular color and it did represent money which is base off the story. It was divided into three parts West Egg, Valley of Ashes and East Egg they are have different kind of money gold is worth a lot so it would be something that I would write. The color white too because Daisy would wear it a lot since she was an innocent pretty girl it was a nice color on her and Gatsby too since it was part of his outfit that day he saw her. The article actually made a good description of each color that was told in the book. It help me understand more about the colors that was talked about because in the book we really don’t get too know all of it. Colors do mean a lot in a story and that it shows symbols of thing that we may not know. When someone is writing a book they add each detail to help the reader realize more behind the story because many of us don’t pay attention to it. For another person to read this will also help them also understand more about the book and in the future for others.
The Great Gatsby, had multiple colors that reflected the story, such as the eye doctors office. The eyes in my belief represent the god and it watches over the whole town. The green light represents the light at the end of Daisy’s dock and the chance that maybe once Gatsby thought of having with Daisy once again. If I ever had an autobiography it would be named “Flintch” it would be based off the colors of the body and how everyone reacts towards any concepts in life. Everyone has plenty of emotions although not everyone likes showing them, it would be way easier to use these to make things simpler for finding out what the person is going through to help them. The article helped me realize that symbols are very important and it is used a lot through out life and very common everywhere. Understanding the ways that symbols and where it’s used is an important part in life. I love the color black, I can hide all my emotions in that color and no one will be able to know.
ReplyDeleteThe prominent color I’ve seen so far in the reading is white, gold, blue, grey, green, and black. If I’m writing a autobiography, I would probably use black and gold most often. I would use them because of a lot of stuff. The color black associates with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery. The color white associates with goodness, innocence, purity. It’s mostly about perfection and usually about positive connotation. This article helps me in a way to understand how authors use colors symbolically in their writing. Most authors use color to describe things and the mood of things. Colors helps create your image and how you consider it to be.The first question said to think about the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg & the light at the end of Daisy dock, because the light at Daisy’s dock helps Gatsby to remember of Daisy and the moments they share.
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