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  • Cited by 3
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
June 2017
Print publication year:
2017
Online ISBN:
9781316771426

Book description

This is an expansion of the first dictionary of symbols to be based on literature, rather than on 'universal' psychological archetypes or myths. It explains and illustrates the literary symbols that we frequently encounter (such as swan, rose, moon, gold) and gives thousands of cross-references and quotations. The dictionary concentrates on English literature, but its entries range widely from the Bible and classical authors to the twentieth century, taking in American and European literatures. For this third edition, Michael Ferber has included some twenty completely new entries (such as birch, childbirth, grove, mill and railroad) and has added to many of the existing entries. Its rich references make this book an essential tool not only for literary and classical scholars but also for all students of literature.

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Contents


Page 1 of 14



Page 1 of 14


Bibliography

General

Biedermann, Hans. Dictionary of Symbolism: Cultural Icons and the Meanings Behind Them. Trans. Hulbert, James. New York: Facts on File, 1992.
Butzer, Günter, and Jacob, Joachim, ed. Metzler Lexikon literarischer Symbole. Stuttgart: Verlag J. B. Metzler, 2008.
Chevalier, Jean and Gheerbrant, Alain. The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols. Trans. Buchanan-Brown, John. London: Penguin, 1996. (French edn. 1969.)
Curtius, Ernst Robert. European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages. Trans. Trask, Willard. New York: Pantheon (Bollingen), 1953.
Daemmrich, Horst S. and Daemmrich, Ingrid G.. Themes and Motifs in Western Literature: a Handbook. Tübingen: Francke Verlag, 1987.
Daemmrich, Horst S. and Daemmrich, Ingrid G.. Themen und Motive in der Literatur: ein Handbuch. Second, enlarged edition. Tübingen: Francke Verlag, 1995.
Ferguson, George. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1954.
Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism. Princeton University Press, 1957.
Ferguson, George. The Great Code: the Bible and Literature. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1981.
Hamilton, A. C., ed. The Spenser Encyclopedia. University of Toronto Press, 1990.
Lakoff, George and Turner, Mark. More than Cool Reason: a Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Onians, R. B. The Origins of European Thought. Cambridge University Press, 1951.
Otto, A. Die Sprichwörter und sprichwörtlichen Redensarten der Römer. Leipzig, 1890; rpt. Hildesheim: Olms, 1965.
Pöschl, Viktor, ed. Bibliographie zur Antiken Bildersprache. Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1964.
Roberts, Helene E., ed. Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography. Chicago, Ill. and London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998.
Seigneuret, Jean-Charles, ed. Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs. 2 vols. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988.
Smith, Eric. Dictionary of Classical Reference in English Poetry. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1984.
Stevenson, Burton. The Home Book of Proverbs, Maxims and Familiar Phrases. New York: Macmillan, 1948.
Whittick, Arnold. Symbols, Signs, and Their Meanings. London: Leonard Hill, 1960.
Ziolkowski, Theodore. Varieties of Literary Thematics. Princeton University Press, 1983. See the appendix called “A Practical Guide to Literary Thematics.”

Animals

Abraham, Claude K.Myth and Symbol: The Rabbit in Medieval France.” Studies in Philology 60:4 (Oct. 1963): 589–97.
Allen, Mary. Animals in American Literature. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983.
Edinger, Harry G.Episodes in the History of the Literary Bear.” Mosaic 4:1 (1970): 112.
Gilman, Sander L.The Uncontrollable Steed: a Study of the Metamorphosis of a Literary Image.” Euphorion 66 (1972): 3254.
Loetscher, Hugo. Der Predigende Hahn: Das literarisch-moralische Nutztier. Zurich: Diogenes, 1992.
Perry, Ben Edwin, ed. Babrius and Phaedrus (Loeb Classical Library). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard and London: Heinemann, 1965. See “Appendix: an Analytical Survey of Greek and Latin Fables in the Aesopic Tradition.”
Robbins, Mary.The Truculent Toad in the Middle Ages.” In Flores, Nona C., ed. Animals in the Middle Ages. New York: Garland, 1996.
Stebbins, Eunice Burr. The Dolphin in the Literature and Art of Greece and Rome. Menasha, Wis.: Banta, 1929.
Thomas, Keith. Man and the Natural World: Changing Attitudes in England 1500–1800. London: Penguin, 1983.

Birds

Armstrong, Edward A. The Folklore of Birds. London: Collins, 1958.
Baird, J. L. and Kane, John R.. Rossignol: an Edition and Translation. With Introductory Essay on the Nightingale Tradition by Baird, J. L.. Kent State University Press, 1978.
Broek, R. van den. The Myth of the Phoenix, According to Classical and Early Christian Traditions. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1972.
Donoghue, Denis. Metaphor. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2014. (On the pelican: pp. 4246.)
Graham, Victor E.The Pelican as Image and Symbol.” Revue de littérature comparée 36:2 (1962): 235–43.
Harrison, Thomas P. They Tell of Birds: Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, Drayton. 1956; rpt. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1969.
Harting, James E. The Birds of Shakespeare. 1871; rpt. Chicago, Ill.: Argonaut, 1965.
Level, Brigitte. Le Poète et l'oiseau: Vers une ornithomythie poétique. Paris: Klincksieck, 1975.
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. The Savage Mind. Trans. of La Pensée sauvage. University of Chicago Press, 1966.
Lutwack, Leonard. Birds in Literature. Gainesville, Fla.: University Press of Florida, 1994.
Martin, Ernest Whitney. The Birds of the Latin Poets. Palo Alto, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1914.
Pfeffer, W. The Change of Philomel: the Nightingale in Medieval Literature (American University Studies Series III, Comparative Literature, vol. xiv). New York/Berne/Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Long, 1985.
Rowland, Beryl. Birds with Human Souls: A Guide to Bird Symbolism. Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 1978.
Thompson, D'Arcy W. A Glossary of Greek Birds. London: Oxford University Press, 1936.
Young, Arthur M.Of the Nightingale's Song.” Classical Journal 46:4 (January 1951): 181–84.

Childbirth

Bergmann, Claudia D. Childbirth as a Metaphor of Crisis. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2008.
Friedman, Susan Stanford. “Creativity and the Childbirth Metaphor: Gender Difference in Literary Discourse.” Feminist Studies 13:1 (Spring 1987): 4982.

Colors

André, J. Étude sur les termes de couleur dans la langue latine. Paris: Klincksieck, 1949.
Irwin., E. Colour Terms in Greek Poetry. Toronto: Hakkert, 1974.

Evening

Korfmacher, W. C.Nightfall in the Greek Lyric Poets.” Classical Journal 46:4 (January 1951): 177–80.
Miller, Christopher R. The Invention of Evening: Perception and Time in Romantic Poetry. Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Gardens and forests

Giamatti, A. Bartlett. The Earthly Paradise and the Renaissance Epic. Princeton University Press, 1966.
Harrison, Robert Pogue. Forests: the Shadow of Civilization. University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Stewart, Stanley. The Enclosed Garden: the Tradition and the Image in Seventeenth-Century Poetry. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966.

Hunting

Allen, Michael. “The Chase: Development of a Renaissance Theme.” Comparative Literature 20:4 (Fall 1968): 301–12.
Thiébaux, Marcelle. The Stag of Love: the Chase in Medieval Literature. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1974.

Mirror

Abrams, M. H. The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1953.
Grabes, Herbert. The Mutable Glass: Mirror-Imagery in Titles and Texts of the Middle Ages and English Renaissance. Trans. Collier, Gordon. Cambridge University Press, 1982.
La Belle, Jennijoy. Herself Beheld: The Literature of the Looking Glass. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1988.

Musical Instruments

Abrams, M. H.The Correspondent Breeze: a Romantic Metaphor.” Kenyon Review 19 (1957): 113–30. Rev. rpt. in Abrams, M. H., ed., English Romantic Poets, 2nd edn. London: Oxford University Press, 1974.
Bidney, Martin. “The Aeolian Harp Reconsidered: Music of Unfulfilled Longing in Tjutchev, Mörike, Thoreau, and Others.” Comparative Literature Studies 22:3 (1985): 329–43.
Grigson, Geoffrey. The Harp of Aeolus and other Essays. London: Routledge, 1947.
O'Malley, Glenn. “Shelley's ‘Air-Prism’: the Synesthetic Scheme of Alastor.” Modern Philology 55 (1958): 178–87.
West, M. L. Ancient Greek Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992.

Numbers

Fowler, Alastair. Spenser and the Numbers of Time. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1964.
Hieatt, A. Kent. Short Time's Endless Monument: The Symbolism of the Numbers in Edmund Spenser's “Epithalamion.” New York: Columbia University Press, 1960.
Schimmel, Annemarie. The Mystery of Numbers. Oxford University Press, 1993.

Plants

Baker, Carlos. “The Traditional Background of Shelley's Ivy-Symbol.” Modern Language Quarterly 4:2 (June 1943): 205–08.
Berges, Ruth. “The Linden Tree in German Legend, Poetry, and Song.” Forum 6:2 (1968): 3339.
Demetz, Peter. “The Elm and the Vine: Notes Toward the History of a Marriage Topos.” PMLA 73 (1958): 521–32.
Draper, John W.Notes on the Symbolic Use of the Willow.” Appendix A of The Funeral Elegy and the Rise of English Romanticism. New York: NYU Press, 1929.
Forster, Edward S.Trees and Plants in the Greek Tragic Writers.” Greece and Rome 21 (January 1952): 5763.
Fussell, Paul. The Great War and Modern Memory. Oxford University Press, 1975. (On the poppy: pp. 246–54.)
Goody, Jack. The Culture of Flowers. Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Knight, Philip. Flower Poetics in Nineteenth-Century France. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986.
McCartney, Eugene Stock. “How the Apple Became the Token of Love.” Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 56 (1925): 7081.
Seward, Barbara. The Symbolic Rose. New York: Columbia University Press, 1960.
Trapp, J. B.The Owl's Ivy and the Poet's Bays: an Inquiry into Poetic Garlands.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 21 (1958): 227–55.

Railroad

Baroli, Marc. Le train dans la littérature française. Paris: Éditions N.M., 1964.
Ceserani, Remo. Treni di carta: L'immaginario in ferrovia: l'irruzione del treno nella letteratura moderna. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri, 2002.
Mahr, Johannes. Eisenbahnen in der deutschen Dichtung: der Wandel eines literarischen Motivs im 19. und im beginnenden 20. Jahrhundert. München: Fink, 1982.
Marx, Leo. The Machine in the Garden. Oxford University Press, 1964.
Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. The Railway Journey: Trains and Travel in the 19th Century. New York: Urizen, 1979.

Sea, ship

Auden, W. H. The Enchafed Flood, or The Romantic Iconography of the Sea. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1950.

Seasons and time

Enkvist, Nils Erik. The Seasons of the Year: Chapters on a Motif from Beowulf to the Shepherd's Calendar. Denmark: Helsingfors, 1957.
Gironce-Evrard, Marie-Anne. La symbolique des saisons dans la poésie lyrique en Italie, en Espagne et en France (1465–1645). Villeneuve d'Ascq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2000.
Panofsky, Erwin. Studies in Iconology. Oxford University Press, 1939.
Preston, Keith. “Aspects of Autumn in Roman Poetry.” Classical Philology 13 (1918): 272–82.
Tuve, Rosemond. Seasons and Months: Studies in a Tradition of Middle English Poetry. 1933; rpt. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1974.
Tuve, Rosemond. “Spring in Chaucer and before Him.” MLN 52 (1937): 916.
Wilhelm, James J. The Cruelest Month: Spring, Nature, and Love in Classical and Medieval Lyrics. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1965.

Spinning and weaving

Scheid, John and Svenbro, Jesper. The Craft of Zeus: Myths of Weaving and Fabric. Trans. Volk, Carol. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996.
Snyder, Jane McIntosh. “The Web of Song.” Classical Journal 76 (1981): 193–96.

Stars and other heavenly bodies

Eade, J. C. The Forgotten Sky: A Guide to Astrology in English Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984.
Kay, Richard. Dante's Christian Astrology. Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994.
Meadows, A. J. The High Firmament: A Survey of Astronomy in English Literature. University of Leicester Press, 1969.

Miscellaneous

Barney, Stephen A.The Plowshare of the Tongue: the Progress of a Symbol from the Bible to Piers Plowman.”Mediaeval Studies 35 (1973): 261–93.
Boedeker, Deborah. Descent from Heaven: Images of Dew in Greek Poetry and Religion. Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1984.
Bosquet, Marie-Françoise and Sylvos, Françoise, eds. L'imaginaire du volcan. Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2005.
Cline, Ruth H.Heart and Eyes.” Romance Philology 25:3 (1972): 263–97.
Doob, Penelope Reed. The Idea of the Labyrinth from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990.
Gellrich, Jesse M. The Idea of the Book in the Middle Ages. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985.
Kermode, Frank. Romantic Image. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1957. (“dancer” and “tree”)
Lawler, Lilian B.The Dance in Metaphor.” Classical Journal 46:8 (May 1951): 383–91.
Nicolson, Marjorie Hope. Mountain Gloom and Mountain Glory: the Development of the Aesthetics of the Infinite. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1959.
Rowland, Beryl. “The Mill in Popular Metaphor from Chaucer to the Present Day.” Southern Folklore Quarterly 33 (1969): 6979.
Thacker, Christopher. “‘Wish'd, Wint'ry, Horrors’: the Storm in the Eighteenth Century.” Comparative Literature 19:1 (1967): 3657.
Weidhorn, Manfred. Dreams in Seventeenth-Century English Literature. The Hague: Mouton, 1970.

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