Definition of ';Contextual Symbol'; and ';Controlling metaphor';? HW due 2moro!?

Checked online dictionarys and google without success.


Don't have time to waste searching anymore so...





Please reply asap as this is a tiny part of my huge dreadful english homework which is due tomorrow *groan*.


Cheers.Definition of ';Contextual Symbol'; and ';Controlling metaphor';? HW due 2moro!?
a contextual symbol can be a setting, character, action, object, name, or anything else in a work that maintains its literal significance while suggesting other meanings. Such symbols go beyond conventional symbols; they gain their symbolic meaning within the context of a specific story. For example, the white whale in Melville's Moby-Dick takes on multiple symbolic meanings in the work, but these meanings do not automatically carry over into other stories about whales. The meanings suggested by Melville's whale are specific to that text; therefore, it becomes a contextual symbol.








a controlling metaphor is a symbolic story, where the whole poem may be a metaphor for something else.