The bed
In the poem "True Confession’’, the narrator talks about a bed in which he slept with various women. The bed appears in other poems as well and it is used as a symbol, suggesting the intimate, private life of a person. Thus, when someone is welcomed into another person’s bed, it usually means that they were welcomed in that person’s private life.
Kissing
The main symbol in the poem entitled "To Any Member Of My Generation’’ is the kiss shared by the young couple sitting near the river. Because the couple is kissing, they do not notice the Past watching them and plotting against them. The kiss becomes here a symbol for the pleasures enjoyed by the younger generations, pleasures which make them unaware of the dangers lurking in the shadows.
The hyena
In the poem "Summer Song’’, after the narrator described the harsh desert he finds inside his heart, he also mentions the sound of a hyena in the distance. The hyena is linked with the idea of lack of inspiration and thus it becomes a symbol for the absence of inspiration.
The child
In the poem entitled "O Child Beside The Waterfall’’ the narrator address a child who sits by a waterfall and looks at it in wonder. As the narrator approaches the child, he starts noticing various things which he did not saw until then. By the end of the poem, the narrator felt as if he was in paradise because of the things he saw because of the child. The child is used in this context as a symbol representing the little things which matter in life but which are ignored by many people as they grow up and mature.
Symbol for memory
The poem "In Memory of David Archer’’ is a meditative poem in which the narrator expresses his feelings on the death of one of his dear friends. The image of the sea makes the narrator remember even more details about the lost friend and the narrator begins to associate the sea more and more with his death friend. Because of this, towards the end of the poem, the sea becomes a symbol used for the memories the narrator has about his old friend.
