Green can symbolize nature, youth, or greed. But not, to be honest, because of its blues.”ģ. “The blue collage you sent me so long ago from Africa, for example, made me hopeful. “If a color cannot cure, can it at least incite hope?” Smith muses in Bluets. Maggie Smith’s cult classic poetry collection Bluets opens with the sentiment, “Suppose I were to begin by saying I had fallen in love with a color.” Throughout the book, which chronicles deep heartbreak, Smith clings to blue as both a representation of sadness and a soothing, oceanic escape. Out of the ash / I rise with my red hair / And I eat men like air.” In Sylvia Plath’s beloved poem “Lady Lazarus,” Plath writes in the voice of a mythical and vengeful female speaker, forming a kind of incantation: “Beware / Beware. Fiery red might suggest the flames of love. Like many other colors, red can take on a negative or positive meaning in poetry. Red can symbolize passion, love, or aggression. Here are four colors to evoke in your next poetic work.ġ. Interestingly, this symbolism also speaks to the duality and ambiguity of poetry-with many colors having vast or even contrasting meanings. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby to color’s titular role in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, great authors have mastered the significance and power of different hues.Ĭolor aids in enhancing poetry’s visual imagery. Defined as “the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities” by the Oxford English Dictionary, color symbolism has long played a role in both classic and emerging literature. Symbolism can greatly enhance your poetry.

Bluets poetry