Blog 38: Give your Motif Teeth

In literary works, the motif refers to a repetitive pattern or recurring element that is used to develop the complexity and depth of the texts intended meaning. Some examples of motif would be a recurring image, symbol, object, idea, concept, word, phrase, sound, situation, incident or character-type. It is a tangible and concrete concept that repeats throughout the literary work to elaborate upon and reaffirm the underlying theme.

I’m sure many of us were faced with analysing the motif in Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven at some point in school. In this poem, the raven is the recurring image or motif that reinforces the underlying themes of grief and loss. Poe himself said that the raven symbolises “mournful and never-ending remembrance”. Here we can see the clear interconnected relationship between theme and motif, as well as the importance of developing tangible motifs to support the potential abstraction of theme.

There’s nothing that will make me stop reading a poem faster than the use of a lazy motif. You know, those cliched, overused images or ideas we see play out repeatedly in writing that prioritise aesthetic and appeasing the comfortabilities or sensibilities of the masses over idiosyncratic complexities: “as cold as ice”, “the clock ticking time away”, “chest empty like a black hole”, the darkness representing some desolate sadness when there’s nothing more melancholic than the oppressive fluorescence of an LED bulb, or the rise in the symbolic use of the pomegranate to represent ‘feminine’ sexuality and fertility in reference to the Greek myth of Persephone’s abduction by Hades, as if (in this specific context) it wouldn’t be better suited to symbolise the manipulation and confines of marriage in a patriarchal system.

These lazy motifs then become an abstract crutch for writers to fall back on when they don’t want to interrogate their own relationship with the vulnerability of the human condition. This then conceptualises uninspired thoughts through prioritising the emulation of the desired aesthetic quality over the portrayal of the distinctive lived experience.

And this isn’t to say that these common motifs are always cliched or inauthentic and shouldn’t ever be used out of fear of unoriginality. Quite the opposite, actually. We, as writers and artists, should feel challenged to utilise familiar motifs in a way that remains idiosyncratic to our personal experience. We should avoid the lack of substance that accompanies the unoriginal, impersonal and generic associations that are stereotypically attributed to common motifs, and instead, focus on the act of fleshing out these ideas or images as a byproduct of our own identity. Give your motif teeth. Make it bite in an unexpected way.

Evade the vacancy of flowery language that feeds into the abstraction of ungrounded concepts and likely associations presumed to be universal. Because, in doing so, you deny authenticity in favour of the ease of preconceived notions. It is imperative to analyse our relationship with the signifier (the physical form of a sign, like a word, image or sound) and the signified (the concept or meaning represented by the object), as the consequential associations of these symbols are a product of our socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, instead of some universal truth. The internalised response to the external should be an individualised reaction to the influence of environment, instead of a predetermined performance that resides in the presumption of a universal understanding.

Colour motifs are commonly used in literature to symbolise an idea or character association, reinforce a theme and create a specific intended mood or atmosphere. Red is often associated with lust, black with melancholy, white with purity, etc. These motifs may seem basic, but they still don’t represent universally understood associations. Where someone may associate the blackness or darkness with sadness or grief, I associate it with authority, power and protection. In modern English culture, white is associated with purity, peace, devotion and marriage, however, in Chinese culture, white also signifies mourning and death. Common motifs can be more abstract than we assume as they often hold a dichotomy of meanings depending on the culture they arise from.

This is why it is important to research your own personal associations in depth. You don’t want your motifs to fall flat on the reader and feel stereotypical. Mind map them. Think of a theme and list any sense impressions that evolve from the thematic intention. What tangible patterns, memories, words, smells, sounds or images arise that cement the theme into a palpable reality? What emotion, mood or atmosphere do they create? And why?

Motif Prompt

Think of ‘nostalgia’ as a theme for your poem. It’s a simple yet abstract concept that will almost always generate an incredibly individualised response. What is nostalgia to you? What senses are you tuned into? What images do you see? What memories play out at the forefront? What patterns arise? How do you feel in response? With nostalgia in the centre of your mind map, branch off your repetitive patterns, the recurring elements, images and sounds, and these will become your concrete motifs that reinforce the theme of ‘nostalgia’.

From your motifs, branch off what these motifs signify. What tone, emotions or mood are they supposed to convey or develop? And are these cliched? Do they rely on the general associations of stereotype, or are they idiosyncratic to you? Two examples of motifs from my nostalgia mind map would be the ‘the smell of burning tobacco’ and “dismantled fire alarms”. For me, these motifs signify a sense of time, longing for a lost past, death and remembrance.  

Use a motif you feel is the most authentic to the theme in relation to your unique lived experience, and this will become the repetitive pattern you use to elaborate upon theme, establish mood or tone, and explore the nuance layered throughout the poem. Remember to interrogate your motif. Don’t prioritise the aesthetics of the external atmosphere over individualised significations, and delve into your own personalised eccentricities as a poet.