Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs Discussion Topic Part 2

[Bridge]

Sure, anything "can" be symbolic of pretty much anything else, but commonly accepted symbolism does exist in literature. The dove, for example, represents the holy spirit in the Bible, and the end of a disaster in multiple ancient texts. More generally, they almost universally represent peace or love.

If you're arguing that the reference to doves in meaningless because it helps constitute the form of the poem, then why not go with something that rhymes with the second line? The third and fourth line rhyme, it would make sense to use something else, if the only purpose of this poem is to be "purely phonetic."

The symbolism used depends entirely on the context. Yes, there is such a thing as "accepted symbolism" in every genre and era but many people, including me, find hackneyed parallels such as doves representing peace/whatever to be boring and unimaginative. That doesn't mean that they aren't symbolic of something in this case - but considering how unusual the setting is, relatively speaking, I don't think there is any reason to assume they would go for something that obvious.

Also, there aren't that many good words that rhyme perfectly with "above" and would be pleasing in context. Assuming that they felt "above" in the second line was absolutely necessary, then I would say "doves" is a fair compromise. Strictly speaking, dove and above constitute a perfect rhyme. Since using the article "a" would decimate the meter, "doves" provides the best of both worlds. Purely hypothetical, of course. Just offering a differing viewpoint. Not all poems have to mean something (in this case line of poetry).

As I mentioned before; "Roses are red, violets are blue", probably the most cliche and unimaginative poetic device ever, is used purely for support for the second part which contains whatever the poet wants to get across. Those two lines establish mood and meter and yet they don't mean anything - at least there is no clear connection that can be made. Those two lines can of course mean any number of things but generally they don't.