Salvation or Catastrophe: Symbolism of Water In Literature

As one of the prominent branches of art literature involves significant symbols that are derived from life. Those symbols function as reflectors of thoughts, feelings and ideas of human beings who transmit those aspects to their literary works. In this respect, water appears as one of the leading symbols in oral and written literature since the beginning of history. As a must-have life source, water penetrates into literary works with a variety of symbolism. The theme and symbolism of water are mainly related to the ideas of catharsis, cleansing, life and re-birth. However, especially in terms of psychoanalytic studies, water is accepted as a symbol of unconscious that harbors dark forces such as instincts. This study aims to put forth symbolism of water for consideration in selected literary works from English literature. Water, one of the symbols of transcendence, will be handled as a bicephalous symbol that inspires the themes of salvation and/or catastrophe (life and/or death) in literary works. With regard to the psychoanalytic reading of water symbolism, this study intends to exhibit the theme and symbolism of water with varied dimensions from English literary works of

Keywords

Water, symbol, English Literature, psychoanalytic criticism.