Blue

The color blue is by far the most complex symbol in the poem, particularly as it does not symbolize any single thing; rather, it is the crossroads within which all other symbols and themes meet. There are at least three levels of meaning attached to the color blue: first, its identity as a physical object or wavelength of light; second, its cultural associations and connotations in the world; and third, its physical and symbolic place in the speaker’s own life. Depending on the context, the speaker may address the color blue in any of these categories, or in more than one. For example, she frequently returns to the image of “having the blues,” where blueness is a symbol for depression. This is usually only a symbol: that is, the color blue has nothing to do with depression except for a constructed cultural association between cool...