Symbols are objects or ideas presented in a piece of text, where the meaning of the concept goes beyond the literal meaning. The meaning of the symbol is very dependent on the context and the plot of the piece of text. A symbol is unique to one individual story. In “As I Walked Out One evening,” Auden utilizes the symbol of the clocks to signify the curtailment of time on love. Auden states that because time limits love and makes it conditional, people must love with a “crooked heart.” A clock in another story or poem does not necessarily have this same symbolic meaning; in fact it probably does not. Contrastingly, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet the ghost actually symbolizes a character in the play. The ghost symbolizes Hamlet’s dead father that only he is able to see, because when he was in his mother’s bed chamber, Gertrude was not able to see the ghost. The Ghost could also symbolize the revenge Hamlet was searching for. Depending on the genre of the piece of text, the meaning of the symbol varies in depth.
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