{"id":32427,"date":"2021-04-16T08:12:25","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T12:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=32427"},"modified":"2021-04-20T19:32:57","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T23:32:57","slug":"symbolism-of-seasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/symbolism-of-seasons\/","title":{"rendered":"Symbolism of Seasons in Literature: Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why are seasons so important in literature? What do the different seasons represent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Seasons can symbolically enhance a reader&#8217;s sense of themes and characters. Over time, seasons have been used so frequently as symbols that each season now has ingrained meanings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to find out what each season means symbolically in literature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"> <strong>The Significance of Setting<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Every good story needs a setting, the time and place in which the story takes place. In literature, the setting is not only the backdrop for the story but an integral part of the story itself. <strong>The setting of a particular story informs the mood of the story, the attitude of the characters, and the presentation of the themes<\/strong>.&nbsp;In this article, the aspect of setting we will focus on is the symbolism of seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Season<\/strong>s in Literature<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Many authors of literary works have used seasons symbolically to enhance the reader\u2019s sense of themes and characters. Over the course of literary history, the seasons have been used so often and so consistently that each season carries ingrained meanings and associations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Autumn<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Middle-age<\/li><li>Harvest<\/li><li>Reflection<\/li><li>Tiredness<ul><li>Example: In Robert Frost\u2019s \u201cAfter Apple Picking,\u201d the speaker is tired after bringing in a huge harvest. This is inherently autumnal: as we reap the rewards of our efforts, we also reflect on the energy we\u2019ve used and the time that has passed.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Winter<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Old age<\/li><li>Unhappiness\/anger\/hatred<\/li><li>Death<ul><li>Example: In W.H. Auden\u2019s \u201cIn Memory of W.B. Yeats,\u201d there is a lot of wintery language. There is snow, a frozen river, and all of the unpleasantness associated with the cold. Auden is being literal (Yeats died in winter), but he\u2019s also using the winter to represent death and the old age at which Yeats passed away.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Spring<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Birth\/fertility&nbsp;<\/li><li>Youth<\/li><li>Fresh possibilities<ul><li>Example: Henry James names his title character <em>Daisy<\/em> Miller. Daisies and other flowers are associated with spring. The reader shouldn\u2019t be surprised to learn that this character is young, beautiful, and full of naive idealism.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Summer<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>New adulthood<\/li><li>Passion<\/li><li>Love<\/li><li>Freedom<ul><li>Example: Shakespeare writes, \u201cShall I compare thee to a summer\u2019s day?\u201d Even before he goes on to use words like \u201clovely\u201d and \u201ctemperate,\u201d the reader knows this is high praise.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As readers, our emotional responses and associations to the seasons are deeply ingrained. This means that an author can choose to play into those expectations and easily <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-create-meaning-in-life\/\">create meaning<\/a> with fewer words.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why are seasons so important in literature? What do the different seasons represent? Seasons can symbolically enhance a reader&#8217;s sense of themes and characters. Over time, seasons have been used so frequently as symbols that each season now has ingrained meanings. Keep reading to find out what each season means symbolically in literature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":32433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,7],"tags":[264],"class_list":["post-32427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-lifestyle","tag-how-to-read-literature-like-a-professor","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Symbolism of Seasons in Literature: Explained - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In literature, seasons have been used so frequently as symbols that each season now has ingrained meanings. Here&#039;s what they mean.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/symbolism-of-seasons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Symbolism of Seasons in Literature: Explained\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In literature, seasons have been used so frequently as symbols that each season now has ingrained meanings. Here&#039;s what they mean.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/symbolism-of-seasons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-16T12:12:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-20T23:32:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/seasons-of-leaves.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1108\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"710\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/symbolism-of-seasons\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/symbolism-of-seasons\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\"},\"headline\":\"Symbolism of Seasons in Literature: Explained\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-16T12:12:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-20T23:32:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/symbolism-of-seasons\/\"},\"wordCount\":421,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/symbolism-of-seasons\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/seasons-of-leaves.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"How to Read Literature Like a Professor\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Lifestyle\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/symbolism-of-seasons\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/symbolism-of-seasons\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/symbolism-of-seasons\/\",\"name\":\"Symbolism of Seasons in Literature: Explained - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/symbolism-of-seasons\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/symbolism-of-seasons\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/seasons-of-leaves.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-16T12:12:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-20T23:32:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"In literature, seasons have been used so frequently as symbols that each season now has ingrained meanings. 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