Below are samples of our popular Theme and Symbolism (formerly, Symbolism and Motif) Thesaurus. For the completely developed and enhanced thesaurus, please visit One Stop For Writers, where it has a permanent place within our vast Descriptive Thesaurus Database.
What is a Theme and Symbolism Thesaurus?
The Relationship between Themes & Symbols
Using Thematic Statements to Explore Theme
Exploring Multiple Themes in One Story
- A Fall From Grace
- A Quest for Knowledge
- Alienation
- Beauty
- Bondage/Enslavement
- Borders and Barriers
- Coming of Age
- Crossroads & Choices
- Danger
- Depression
- Death
- Deception
- Doomsday
- Evil
- Family
- Freedom
- Friendship/Camaraderie
- Health
- Hope
- Illness
- Instability & Turmoil
- Isolation
- Knowledge
- Loss
- Love/Affection
- Mystery
- Ordered/Organization
- Passage of Time
- Peace/Harmony
- Perseverance
- Pride
- Purity
- Religion
- Sacrifice
- Safety or Refuge
- Suffering
- Superstition: Bad Luck
- Superstition: Good Luck
- Teamwork
- Transformation & Change
- Unity
- Violence
- Vulnerability
- Wealth
There are THIRTY additional entries available at One Stop For Writers, including Beginnings, Betrayals, Disorder, Endings, Greed, Inflexibility, Innocence, Journeys, Obstacles, Rebellion, Recognition, Rite of Passage, Stagnation, and Vanity
View our other Descriptive Thesaurus Collections HERE.
4 Comments.
[…] Symbolism and Motif Thesaurus ~ WRITERS HELPING WRITERS® […]
Brilliant, as always.
Thanks so much!
[…] Symbols hold power. They can foreshadow what is to come and trigger an emotional reaction from characters. If your hero grew up on his grandparents’ farm, he may feel a surge of lightness at noticing a symbol from that time, like an old tractor tire converted to a flower rockery in someone’s backyard. Common symbols will also have an emotional effect on your reader. If your character passes a graveyard on the way home from work, it brings about the feeling of death. The reader on some level will be ill at ease and may expect that something bad will happen. (For a list of symbols to use in writing, check out the Symbolism Thesaurus.) […]