The Symbolic Thought And Its Characteristics In European Literature Of Middle Ages

The study on European literature and poetics of Middle Ages has been the academic hotspot in recent decades. The symbolic thought in European literature of Middle Ages, which enlightened symbolist theory and Hermeneutic of later ages, is worth researching. It has direct relation to the Holy Bible of Christianity and the theory of allegorical interpretation of Holy Bible. This paper consists of three parts.Chapter one: symbolic poetics in Middle Ages. Christianity is the Rome Empire's state religion, and has great influence on the culture and spirit in Middle Ages. The allegorical interpretation of literature conversed from the allegorical interpretation of the Holy Bible in Middle Ages.Chapter two: symbolic images and thoughts in European literature of Middle Ages. This chapter divides into two parts: the Holy Bible and other literary works. The Holy Bible, a magical and magnificent symbolized world with all kinds of symbolic images, is religious , mysterious .As a literary text, it has incomparable far-reaching influence on western society, which makes it be a classic of Christian culture and a abundant resource to western modern writers. Symbolic images in European profane literature of Middle Ages have some relation to Christianity and express profane feelings.Chapter three: Characteristics of symbolic thoughts in literature of Middle Ages. The conversion from the allegorical interpretation of Holy Bible to the allegorical interpretation of literature is accompanied by the change of the poem's definition and the rising of poem's status, "symbol" has developed from a unitary theological concept to plural aesthetic one. The concept of symbol in European literature of Middle Ages is very generalized. It is not obviously differentfrom "metaphor" and "fable". The symbolic images in Europeanliterature of Middle Ages inclined to be fixed, most of which are of Christian public symbolic ones. It mostly displayed the Christian world and propagated Christian doctrine. Its total characteristic can be summarized as religious, mysterious and surpassing.