True writers
“Advice to the Grub Street Verse-writers” is a poem about a group of writers living on a street called Grub. During the time when the poem was written, Grub Street was known for housing a large number of aspiring artists who tried to make a living out of their writings. This poem also deals with the lives of this writers and one of the common motifs in the poem is the idea that those writers were neither talented nor truthful when it came to their writings.
Religion
The beasts described in “The Beasts’ Confession” are all personified and presented as rational beings capable of understanding the world in the same way normal men and women can. To prove just how similar beasts and mankind are, the beasts are described as being religious. Thus, in this poem, religion is used as a symbol for humanity and intelligence.
High tower
The nymph in “A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed” lived in a high tower in which no one had access except for her. This tower is the place where the nymph’s true identity and colors come to life and where the nymph is presented as she truly is. Because of this, we can argue the tower is used here as a symbol for the artifice the nymph showed the rest of the world and also a symbol for her vanity.
Carriage
In “A Description of a City Shower”, some people decide to use a carriage as a protection against the rain. Still, the vast majority of the people had no other choice but to take on the elements since they could not find suitable cover. The carriage, a luxury element in the 19th century, is used here as a symbol, to suggest the protection money can offer to a person.
Symbol for truth
The events described in “A Description of the Morning” take place during the span of a few hours starting at sunrise. Once morning comes, everyone struggles to put on their fake persona and to return to their rightful places in society. Because of this, the time of morning is used as a symbol for truth, since every person is presented in the early hours of the morning as they truly are.
