Fabric

Fabric symbolizes hiding. Because clothing is used to physically cover up the body, it is a way to hide one's true self. Swift is not necessarily critical of this fact, but is highly conscious of it throughout the poem.

Odor

Odors symbolize the animal nature of humanity. Swift frequently refers to the bad smells emanating from various things in Celia's dressing-room. These smells serve to remind the reader – and to teach Strephon – that the human body is an animal like any other.

Cosmetics

Cosmetics usually serve as a symbol of women's deception of men. In most literature of the period, they are shown as ways that women hide the "truth" of their appearance, for some sort of personal gain. Swift uses this symbol in a critical way here – he depicts the cosmetics, but without the sense of condemnation that usually accompanies this symbol. Instead, he diverts...