The Symbol: how to summon meaning and emotion — with Don Paterson
Sat 13 Dec
|Webinar
What the hell is a symbol anyway? Everyone uses the word, but it’s rare two poets mean the same thing by it. In this class, we’ll look at when an image merely stands for itself, and when it acts as a totem for a far more subtle – and otherwise inexpressible – meanings and emotions.
Time & Location
13 Dec 2025, 11:00 – 13:00 GMT
Webinar
About the event
This class is the third of a series of three webinars with Don Paterson. You can purchase a ticket to an individual webinar, or you can book the a ticket for all three at a reduced price. If you would like to purchase tickets to all three webinars, please purchase your ticket from the 3-in-1 button below The Joy of Scansion.
What the hell is a symbol anyway? Everyone uses the word, but it’s rare two poets mean the same thing by it. ‘Symbol’ is one of poetry’s most overused and least understood terms, but in this webinar, Don Paterson will dive headlong into the murky waters – from the alchemical roses of Shakespeare to the gilded bedposts of Lowell, from Romantic symbolism to modern semiotics – and then propose a clear, practical, working distinction between our ‘poetic symbol’, and both ‘metaphor’ and the confusions of its philosophical use. You’l…
Tickets
General Admission
£35.00
+£0.88 ticket service fee
Concession
If you can’t afford the full workshop/webinar fee, just pay the concessionary rate. If you can afford the full fee, please pay it, as it will allow us to offer completely free places in the future.
£25.00
+£0.63 ticket service fee
Total
£0.00